A Prepared Place

 

“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”

—Acts 17:26

“Number 10 B Dutch Way”—my Mom’s last address before she left us for Heaven. She only lived four other places during her entire eighty-nine years of life. This last address identified her room and bed number in a nursing home. A year before, we would never have considered choosing that kind of “home” for her last days. When we saw that particular room—the one bed available in the facility, right by a window—we knew it was a perfect room for her.

My Mom loved birds and trees and nature in general, having always lived on a farm. Even here she could look out over the lawn, and after my brother-in-law brought her bird feeder and placed it just outside her window, she could enjoy a few last days in a very comfortable place—a prepared place just right for her.

I have always been fascinated by Acts 17:26, as stated above. This verse gave me assurance at a time, early in our marriage, when we had to make a very sudden move from a nice apartment. The owner had decided to transform our apartment into a condominium. We could not afford to buy this place we had lived in four years. We had just a few days to find a new place to live.

We looked high and low for a place to accommodate the two of us. We finally found a rental condominium through some miraculous answers to prayer. Little did we know that within a few months, my husband’s father would die and his mother would need to come to live with us. Suddenly, we needed all of the additional space this new living place provided. We could never have anticipated this need. But, not only did God prepare it for the two of us, He prepared it for my husband’s mom, as well.

The Apostle John talks about the way that God is preparing a place for us, His children, in Heaven. The Apostle writes in John 14:2:

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

When we read that God prepares a place for us, after this life on earth ends, I think it is also safe to assume that He pledges to take care of every place in which we need to live until He calls us home to be with Him forever. Like a loving Father, He watches over us and reassures us that He will make certain we will always have a place prepared for us!

Though we may not have to think about finding a new place to live very often in our lives, it can become a most stressful time when it happens. If you need a new home, or a loved one does, trust God to take care of this need. Surely, our God who said He would take care of our need for food and for clothing in Matthew 6:25-34, will also take care of providing us a place that He has prepared just for us.

 

 

While Looking for Donkeys

 

Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.”

—1 Samuel 9:3

In my own experience, the surprising event described in the Scripture passage above might as well have read:

“Now, while she was vacuuming the bedroom.”

In just such a setting, a life-changing phone call came to me from a music supervisor—whom I did not know personally—from a nearby town. A recently hired music teacher had resigned. They needed a long-term substitute. I later learned that she had resigned because of the behavior of the unruly students.

I took the position on a temporary basis. Two months later based on a recommendation from that music supervisor, the superintendent of schools offered me a full-time job. And, 26 years later, I retired from that same school system.

Scripture shows us many examples of the way God turns the lives of ordinary people in a new direction. Saul, the son of Kish, while looking for donkeys, came upon the prophet Samuel, whom God had prepared to look for a candidate to become king. To Saul’s complete surprise, he received an invitation to dinner and a proposal to become the first king of Israel.

Another man, shepherding the flock of his father-in-law, was jolted out of a hum-drum day with the sight of a burning bush. Drawing near, he heard a call from God to help deliver the Israelites from servitude in Egypt and lead them through the wilderness for forty years. You can read this story of Moses beginning in Exodus 3.

Then, in Genesis 24, we read of Rebekah. She had a custom of drawing water at the well with the other women of her village during the evening. One evening, as she went about what she believed was a normal task to obtain water, she met a man sent by the prophet Abraham to search for a wife for his son Isaac. God led this servant to her. The servant convinced Rebekah of God’s call, and took her back to become part of the patriarchal family, whose line eventually produced the Messiah.

We do well to consider the ways in which God has made critical “turns” in our lives. Most of these cannot be explained away as coincidences. They happen as God’s sudden way of answering prayer, or introducing us to a new place in which to serve Him.

Whether or not we realize it, God prepares us over a long period of ordinary, routine days. He hears every prayer and has a way in which He answers. Sometimes He does so with an extraordinary occurrence. Other times, He answers with the word, “Wait!”

Have you prayed and prayed until you begin to think God has ignored your requests and that, for some reason, His answer must be “No!”? Instead of becoming discouraged, believe that God has you in His mind, and can turn your situation around with a remarkable twist in your daily life. Trust Him to show you His direction in astonishing ways. And, have your heart ready to receive His surprise!

 

 

Distracted

 

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

—Luke 10:41-42

Trisha was one of those children: always busy, but always attracted to the wrong things. On one visit to her classroom, I observed her moving from pencil sharpener to sink, to closet, back to her desk to play with her crayons and erasers. She did all of this in just a few short minutes of time. In the hallway one day, I watched her stop, for several moments, to stare at a piece of fuzz on the carpet. In my classroom, I required that she sit next to me in the front of the room, so that she could have a reasonable chance of paying attention to the music lesson I was sharing with her class.

Trisha usually kept quiet. Yet, her distractibility would keep everyone’s eyes on her. She seemed like such a happy child—but thoroughly happy for the absolutely wrong reasons. She allowed things to interfere with the place where her attention should focus. Not surprisingly, we can have this problem, too. Said another way: “How often do we behave like Martha in the Scripture passage above?”

Like me, have you sometimes sat down to meet with the Lord in the morning and before long found your mind on something else? Usually, when I get distracted at such times, I remember something I need to take care of in the kitchen, or an email I forgot to send. Or, worse yet, I worry about something that turns my mind away from the right and proper spiritual matters—the very purpose of my morning quiet time.

Jesus wants us to sit at His feet and listen to Him. As students ourselves, God justifiably wants us to give Him our complete and undivided attention. If we neglect to focus on Him, from where will our strength, wisdom, love, patience, and the true satisfaction of our needs come?

In Colossians 3:1-2, the Apostle Paul tells us that we have this responsibility:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

If we have difficulty concentrating on God’s voice in the morning, when we spend time alone with Him, how can we hope to hear His voice during the busy day ahead?

 

 

Searching and Finding

 

“God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”

—Acts 17:27

What child doesn’t enjoy a good hunt? From Easter eggs to a game of “Hide and Seek,” children delight in the fun of searching and finding. Frustration only sets in when the pastime becomes too difficult. Even “Where’s Waldo” ¹ can become discouraging if the red and white stripe shirt and the big round glasses don’t appear in a reasonable amount of time.

God delights in lovingly creating a sort of “Hide and Seek” game for us. God wants us to seek Him, to hunt for clues that He has written all over creation, all over our lives, and in His written Word, the Bible. He wants us to know the joy of finding Him. God has promised that if we earnestly seek Him, we will find Him. In Matthew 7:8, The Apostle Matthew quotes Jesus as saying:

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

As another illustration of the sincere desire He looks for in seekers, Jesus told a two verse parable, as recorded in Matthew 13:45-46:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

God wants us to seek Him and He wants us to find Him. Searching reveals our earnest desire and finding reveals our greatest joy in Him. From an old gospel hymn: ²

All my life long I had panted for a draught from some cool spring that I hoped would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within. Hallelujah! I have found Him Whom my soul so long has craved! Jesus satisfied my longings; through His blood I now am saved.

Much like it would disappoint a parent to have a child look hard for something and never find it, God waits and watches us to see if, with the sincerity of a true seeker, we hunt for Him until we find Him. Oh the joy!

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1 Handford, Martin. Where's Waldo? Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2007. Citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder. 2 Williams, Clara Tear. “All My Life Long I Had Panted.” Hymns of Faith and Life. Winona Lake, Indiana: Light and Life Press, 1976. Citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.