When God Interrupts

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:18-19 ESV

Over the last five days, because of sickness our agenda has been unceremoniously trashed, and we had to cancel most of our plans. Finally on Sunday afternoon, my wife and I went to a walk-in clinic, hoping to find some help. Though we came away with a diagnosis of nothing more serious than Bronchitis, it was frustrating to realize just how little control we had over our plans. Of course, not all agenda changing in our lives occurs due to negative circumstances. In today’s verse, we find Peter and Andrew finishing up their shift at work, after a long night of fishing. Then, while they were washing their nets before heading home for breakfast Jesus interrupted their plans, with a plan of His own. Though we have the advantage of knowing that Peter and Andrew went on to become Apostles, they were probably thinking about what their wives were cooking for breakfast! Imagine how the pages of the Bible would be different if they just told Jesus that they would go home and pray about it (after a nap!) There would have been, no story of Andrew, bringing a boy with five loaves of bread for Jesus to multiply and no Peter, walking on water to go to Jesus. Though they didn’t know it at the time, the history of nations lay in the balance that day, because God has chosen them to do something different than they had planned.

Has God has disrupted your schedule recently? If you are like me, you may have been irritated, frustrated or even just plain mad about having to cancel your carefully crafted plans. But as Christians, we need to remind ourselves, that God knows what is best, and He wants us to trust our schedule into His hands. We never know if instead of fishing at the lake, Jesus just might want us to go with Him and start fishing for men!

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A Weaned Child

Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. Psalm 131:2 KJV

Rest has gotten such a bad name in our culture that we place our next order at Walmart while we are cooking, check our email during our children’s soccer game and take phone calls at the beach from customers. We never seem to be able to find a quiet place of rest. But having a hard time with quietness isn’t something new. Thousands of years ago King David had the same struggle. Imagine growing up with six brothers treating you like a servant, fighting Goliath and then dodging spears that King Saul is throwing your way. That is definitely far from a quiet life!

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But in the middle of unexpected circumstances, God taught him the secret of quietness and David tells us that it was like being weaned. See, Babies are used to milk. Milk is sweet and easy and when babies get hungry they cry, demanding mom comply immediately by giving them a feeding. No baby wakes up hoping for a spoon full of pureed spinach! The only way a child is going to eat solid food is if he or she gets hungry enough to accept something new. Usually by the time a baby gets ready for that first bite they are so worn out from crying that in a moment of quietness they accept what mom gives them. Sound familiar? Is God changing up the menu in your life with unexpected or even bitter circumstances? Are sweet and familiar things around you disappearing faster than lawn chairs in a tornado? The good news is that even in a tornado, if we will quiet our soul like a weaned child, God has something far better than milk prepared for us. He has sent for us Jesus, the fresh Bread from Heaven as our comforter and His Holy Word for our Sunday meal!