What to Do Now?

Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O Israel! This is what the Lord says:
“Do not act like the other nations,
who try to read their future in the stars.
Do not be afraid of their predictions,
even though other nations are terrified by them.
Their ways are futile and foolish.
They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.
They decorate it with gold and silver
and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails
so it won’t fall over.
Their gods are like
helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field!
They cannot speak,
and they need to be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of such gods,
for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.” -- Jeremiah 10:1-5

I've put off writing on this blog for months now. On one hand, the reasons are many: time, technological problems, deciding what to write about, etc. But at core, I think there was one basic reason I wasn't writing: fear. Since leaving full-time ministry I have been, for lack of a better word, "lost". I don't mean lost in the salvation sense (though I suppose that's a possibility too) but lost in the vocational sense. I don't really know what I'm doing...who I am...or why I'm bothering to do it. This identity crisis has not covered every area of life. I know who I am as a husband and father, for example--but in what I think of as the third major relationship of life, "Who am I in relation to God?" I really don't know. I still feel like I want to be a minister...but I don't feel the same level of passion...or perhaps the better word is "trust" that I once did. I'm currently pursuing yet another degree in a non-ministry related field in the hope that it will not only provide more stable employment, but will perhaps create some space in which I can discern "the still small voice" and rediscover who God is calling me to be.

I realize this is a little philosophical...and perhaps too "whiny", but I wanted you to understand the context from which I approached the first five verses of Jeremiah 10 this evening. I realize that Jeremiah was talking to a corporate group, not an individual. Yet, as I read it, I could not help but hear the following paraphrase applied to my own life:

Do not act like other people.

Who try to read their futures. Who try to control their lives and have everything planned out and scripted according to their timetables.

Do not be afraid of the predictions they make about your life...or the predictions YOU make about it, because neither of you are really in control of anything anyway!

Even though others are you are terrified at their future prospects...afraid the economy will never recover...or this is the end of civilization...or what not, don't let yourself get sucked into that.

All such things are foolish and futile. Despite all the preparation and energy you've put into your plans for life this far, what has it really accomplished? The things you planned didn't pan out, and best things in your life were completely unplanned (at least by you) anyway. That should tell you something.

All this stuff that you, and everyone else, is worried about and afraid of is ultimately helpless. At the end of the day, it's not what you should trust in...and its not really something you should fear either. Deep in your heart, you know Who fits both of those bills.

So stop worrying about your future and where you'll be used tomorrow, and how you'll get there "for the pagans run after all these things". Instead, seek out where the Kingdom is today...and go there. And let tomorrow worry about itself.

-- Justin