What To Do When Life Gets Interrupted
~ Today’s Scripture Art and Bible blog post were designed to help you write God’s Word on your heart. ~
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Take a look at the book that has been sitting on my shelf patiently waiting for such a time as this …
Perfect, right?
But just so you know, Life Interrupted – Navigating the Unexpected by Priscilla Shirer was not at all about our current situation. It was written a few years ago before any thought or sign of Covid19.
But the principles were remarkably applicable!
Want to know what to do when life gets interrupted?
If you’re anything like me, you’ll find this book review extremely helpful during these unprecedented days.
Life Interrupted is about Jonah – a man who God called to an unwanted life interruption.
Talk about navigating the unexpected! Being swallowed by a giant fish undeniably falls under the category of unexpected.
As does being asked to stay in our houses for weeks on end.
However, Jonah’s story makes our current situation seem like a cakewalk.
When comparing ourselves to Jonah, Priscilla says, “You may be in the midst of a circumstance right now that’s got you upset. You’re frustrated; angry about the outcome God has allowed. You’re unsure why this is happening, perhaps not at all in agreement with how God is choosing to handle it, knowing He could do anything He wanted and make this immediately better and resolved.”
Are you in agreement with how God is handling this pandemic?
At times like these, Priscilla reminds us to never forget this verse …
Psalm 145:17 (ESV): The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.
I painted it to help us always remember. Print it, display it, then write it on your heart.
Before moving on, let me point out this wise note from Priscilla ..
“Of course, not every difficulty in your life is directly sent from God. Though nothing can reach you that He doesn’t allow, we must exercise discernment and ask for His wisdom in knowing if it’s something we should pray against (like an outright enemy attack), or if it’s been specifically crafted and is the Lord’s way of spurring us onward in our walk with Him. Tough spiritual decisions, these. But we never go wrong in the face of even a maddening interruption to turn our eyes to heaven, eager to see what He may be trying to accomplish in us, aware that we often fail to recognize and consider His participation in life’s events.”
There will always be times when we wonder what in the world God is doing.
Sometimes we get hinds-sight answers and sometimes we don’t.
But Priscilla shares something we can count on …
“He knows there are more important things to result from this interruption than a conclusion – things like a heart at peace with His holy will, trusting in His wise counsel, believing in His goodness, surrendering to His purposes even when we don’t like them or don’t understand. We think we know what we want. In reality we should want nothing else but to be completely in line with His desires for us and His purposes in our generation. So we must resolve to let God be God on His terms, not ours.”
Easier said than done?
Priscilla understands.
She notes, “We do that with God far too often, like Jonah did. We tell Him how things are supposed to go. We tell Him what we’re wanting to happen. We tell Him what our will involves in this particular situation. And then we expect Him (if He loves us) to sign off on the script we’ve written.”
What expectations do you have today?
Are you getting antsy? Testy? Jonah did too. In fact, Jonah got downright angry when things didn’t go like he wanted.
Jonah 4:1 (ESV): But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
Priscilla describes our anger with God as “distracted energy.” That sounds like a nice way of saying spoiled brat. {grin}
If only we could turn that distracted energy into trust and surrender and confidence in His omniscient purposes.
But how?
Priscilla suggests listening to God closely …
“But if we’re listening closely enough, divine interventions have an uncanny way of giving us key warnings about the state of our hearts. Interruptions, even the positive ones, can often reveal some hidden, deceptive imbalances that could cause us trouble later on if left undiagnosed and untreated. It’s like noticing oil stains in the driveway. They’re small signs that a tune-up is in order.”
Ok. Let’s play along with her “tune up” analogy.
Is now a good time to pull into Super Lube?
“We, too, often require the ongoing maintenance of God’s interventions to help us recognize not just the obvious villains like anger and pride but also other things that are misaligned, those inner issues that can be somewhat hard to detect. Like a judgemental spirit. An unhealthy absorption with self. Lack of sensitivity toward other people’s needs. Unwillingness to be inconvenienced. Little things that hinder us from letting God’s plans, priorities, and activities be of foremost importance to us.”
What is most important to you?
Comfort?
Very few people in this world are comfortable with what’s going on right now.
Question is, how are we reacting?
Jonah reacted with anger and self-absorbtion …
Jonah 4:5-9 (ESV): Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”
Can you believe that?
Do we ever get upset over a little plant right after God has just saved us from a whale?
Priscilla pointed out, “Jonah viewed the intensity of his discomfort in the sweltering heat as being of similar magnitude with the calamity from which God had spared the repentant Ninevites (Jonah 3:10). The noun translated as both words is precisely the same in the original language. This obvious over exaggeration of Jonah’s own trouble and hardship shows us something worth noting. His internal measuring system was skewed toward reading his personal pain with a hyperinflated sensitivity, while being fairly immune to others’ suffering and grief.”
That thinking needed realigning.
And don’t forget, Jonah was a man of God – a prophet, no less.
We are no different. We need to be shown when there’s an inconsistency between our character and God’s.
We need to be reminded how little regard we can sometimes have for the deeper, more important matters that interest His heart.
“The reason grace and forgiveness and compassion and long-suffering are expected of us is because these are the things that matter most to the heart of God.”
Our hearts need realigning with His.
But how?
Priscilla recommends, “There’s nothing like spending a little time in God’s garage to get us spiritually roadworthy again. His interventions may cost us a bit more than we were hoping to pay, but the rewards of driving at top performance can take a lot of the worries out of life as the road rolls along.”
Time in God’s garage = time in prayer and the Word.
If ignored, your relationship with Him will continue to be strained and your life will be unsatisfying.
Take it from Jonah.
Or take it from David …
Psalm 22:26-27 (ESV): The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord,
So I encourage you to seek the Lord – during this time, and always!
It will bring satisfaction and purpose to your life.
Take it from Jesus …
John 6:35 (ESV): Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Oh – and one last thing to consider …
“The interruption Jonah tried his hardest to run away from was an opportunity to be part of the greatest revival in human history. God was offering him a grand prize, and all he could see were the problems. Yet that is exactly what God is offering us – a better way, His perfect will, a key role in His flawless plan for the ages. But here’s the rub: it may be wrapped in the cloak of an interruption.”
Now that’s an exciting thought!
May we seek the Lord every day so we’ll see more than the problems.
*My prayer for you is … that this blog will inspire you to open your Bible every single day to seek God’s face and write His Word on your heart – because HE’S the key to lasting heart change!
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