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Rewiring My
Fears
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by Sam Williamson
After four years of trying to sell our old
house, we finally moving into our new
house last August. To prepare it for retreats,
I’ve been immersed in chores: creating a new
kitchen, installing new cabinets, making a desk,
and rewiring about twenty light switches to link
them to Alexa. All things I’ve done before:
plumbing, carpentry, and wiring.
Now that the house-updates are done, I sense God
calling me to write a book on Cultural Creep
(how we adopt the world’s solutions while
rejecting God’s answers), to talk with a friend
about a difficult subject, and to coach a
spiritual organization about how to communicate
God’s word.
And I feel wholly and completely inadequate. How
can I communicate the world’s influence without
sounding like a crabby old man? How can I speak to
my friend without sounding like a harsh jerk? How
do I move from behavior-ism to gospel-ism when
tips and techniques seems their default message?
I’m sleeping poorly because I think God is
assigning me tasks that I’m ill-equipped to
execute.
God Always Demands the
Unreasonable
Everybody’s inner default is to fasten onto the
familiar, to perform tasks we already know how to
do. But the greatest triumphs of past spiritual
leaders were always when they tackled the
impossible:
- God asked Abraham and Sarah to have a child
when they were in their nineties;
- God told Moses to find water for Israel in a
rock in the desert with no oasis in
sight;
- God wouldn’t let Gideon battle Midian till
he reduced his army from 32,000 to 300;
- When God called St. Francis to rebuild the
church, God meant an entire culture not a tiny
chapel.
Why does God always draw us beyond the end of our
resources? Not just to the edge of our strength,
not merely a toe over the line of our aptitudes;
he persistently pushes us past our natural
abilities until we cry “Uncle!” (Or, “God help
me!”).
It’s Always About His Life in
Us
Scripture repeatedly teaches a simple
message with multiple metaphors, the most common
is: “Unless the Lord builds the house, its
laborers work in vain” (Psalm 127:1).
When I was preparing our new house for retreats, I
didn’t pray much about my activities. I’ve
performed them so many times before I could do
them in my sleep. Well, as I sleep-walked my way
through carpentry, I was training myself to build
my house without the Lord. Literally.
So why should I be surprised when difficult
assignments make me feel totally helpless? I’ve
orientated myself through regular practice to work
as an independent contractor.
When God told Moses to confront Pharaoh (the
greatest leader of the greatest empire), he said,
“Tell Pharaoh to give away his single greatest
resource for constructing cities; and tell him
make it snappy!” Moses asks God “How can I do
this?” because it seemed impossible. God answered,
“But I will be with you” (Exodus 3:12).
I think God orchestrates unreasonable and
impossible tasks to re-orient us to accomplish
even the tiniest tasks through him; not on our
own, and not completely on his own. He
likes to work his greatest miracles through us,
his life in ours.
Whether we’re tackling a toilet or walking on
water.
Sam
Sam Williamson has published
numerous articles and has written two books.
He has a blog site, www.beliefsoftheheart.com,
and can be reached at
Sam@BeliefsoftheHeart.com.
Hearing
God in Conversation: How to Recognize
His Voice Everywhere, by Samuel C.
Williamson, published by Kregel
Publications, 2016, available from Amazon
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photo of a man rewiring a light
fixture at bigstock.com Stock
Photo ID: 66062554
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