Lots of people expect God to Twitter them through life in little standalone sound bites that need no explanation. His voice is supposed to sound like machine gun fire. Pop pop pop pop. Clear. Self contained messages. That’s that.
Well, in my experience, God does speak in tiny bits (something about my intelligence and attention span, I think) but often these bits don’t stand alone. They’re puzzle pieces he actually expects me to hold loosely, praying over them, waiting, fiddling, rotating, and wondering as more and more pieces arrive to complete the picture. Even the ones that seem to stand alone, don’t. He’s always up to something bigger, grander, more.
God isn’t cryptic, but he is methodical. He doesn’t dump very often. He usually sprinkles. And thank goodness! Imagine:
“Brad, I’m calling you into ministry and you’re going to get really hurt at your first church and lose heart and its going to take years to find your feet again but I’ll bless you in a new ministry for nearly a decade and just when you’re getting comfortable I’m going to yank you out of everything you and your kids know (yes, you’ll have three by then) to another church in another city where the entire staff team will resign in the first year and then you’ll wrestle with me about becoming the lead pastor but eventually give in and love it. Okay?”
Yeah, not a good approach. Sound bites, please. Now, of course, I can put the puzzle (real story, above) together. And I praise him for it. Bit by bit.
Lately God is teaching me something, and very slowly. It’s about magnets and how they work and how my leadership should be shaped by these ideas. Don’t know where it’s going. I’ve got three or four or five puzzle pieces, two of which fit, the rest of which I hold loosely. I’m impatient, but I’ll look, listen, and wait.
Cause the wait, and the journey, and the discovery, and the pain… are all worth it.
Does God Twitter. Thankfully. I wonder if he’s got more followers than Oprah or Ashton Kutcher?