Proverbs 20:24
Recently, a friend of mine related a conversation she shared with a co-worker about those times in our lives as a Christian that she calls the period of “not knowing.” It’s that moment or long pause or seeming eternity when we take a step of obedience to God but do not know where to go from there nor where it will ultimately lead.
The
story I’m about to relate to you is not a biblical one, nor necessarily
biblically sound, but it made me realize how we can’t always anticipate the
impact of our choices to obey God.
You may or may not
remember Joan of Arcadia, a television series that aired from 2003 to 2005. Joan
was a modern day teenager who could hear God speak through various people that
wandered in and out of her life. God would give her assignments that seemed to
her offbeat or sometimes downright ridiculous. She struggled to understand what
her part played in the task. She would ask God if she really had a choice
whether or not to do what He asked. He always confirmed her freewill.
In Episode 4 of
Season 1, God asked Joan to build a boat. Her response was, “I don’t know how
to build a boat.”
“You’ll figure it
out,” He told her.
Eventually she
finds a book on boat building, and after much struggle, begins to assemble a
canoe sized one in the garage of her home.
Meanwhile, her
brother, who is paralyzed and wheel chair bound because of an accident, is
wasting away in his room as he builds and paints tiny models of trains, cars,
boats, etc. His father struggles to connect with him now that his son is no
longer a popular sports star headed to college on a football scholarship. The
father tries to no avail to persuade him to join a handicapped basketball team.
The request further increases the distance between the two of them because the
son now believes his only worth is as a bright and shining sports star. In a
huff he wheels out of his room and to the garage to be alone and to smoke, a
vice he leans on now that he is no longer athletic.
As he wheels into
the garage and starts to light up the cigarette, he turns and sees the shell of
the boat Joan has started. He places the unlit cigarette in his pocket and
mumbles to himself, “What is this? It’s all wrong. It will never float this
way.”
His father walks
into the garage looking for something he has misplaced.
After an awkward
silence, the son asks, “What is this?”
The father
replies, “One of Joan’s projects.”
They argue about
how best to correct the mistakes Joan has made with the boat as they begin to
pull pieces apart and reassemble them.
Unbeknownst to
them Joan enters the garage and slips behind something so that she won’t be
seen. She watches as her father and brother begin to reconnect through this
unlikely project she has started. In awe, she passes from that stage of “not
knowing” to knowing. She now understands
why her obedience to God was so important. And it wasn’t about her.
As writers of inspirational material, we
spend a good deal of time in the area of “not knowing”. Not knowing why God has
placed a certain topic on our heart, not knowing if it will be published, not
knowing who it might reach. Joan’s story is a reminder that when we obey God’s voice He will direct our steps and usually increase our understanding.
Have you ever had a situation where you knew God asked you to do something, but you had no idea why He asked you to do it, or how you were going to make it happen, or how it was going to turn out?
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