Help, Lord! I’ve done it again.

            Have you ever assumed God must have given His approval to something simply because it seemed to fit so nicely into your plans? Zeal without God’s clear direction usually ends in disaster. Such was my dilemma this week, as I charged ahead with a project without checking to see if this was His plan or mine. Can you relate? If you like reading others’ disastrous stories to hopefully avoid your own, this one might be for you! Ha!

            If you have been reading my posts and social media feeds, you may already know that the Lord has allowed me to begin a Bible study at our church that opens a way of discipleship from the pregnancy center to the church. There are a few more weeks to prepare, invite the young women, and connect with the local pregnancy centers. This week, I jumped into one of the local pregnancy centers to become an advocate in the little amount of spare time that I did not really have. The goal was to meet some of the young women in person, while also doing what I love: mentoring and counseling. Besides getting lost twice on my way there Monday morning, the whole day was a disaster of uncommunicated expectations on both ends. (Look for an upcoming counseling series where unmet expectations will be the topic, because, clearly, I have enough bad experience to teach someone else what not to do! Ha!)

 I ended up heading out early, which caused another unintended consequence. It closed the door on an introductory Bible study that was supposed to happen at the center on Saturday. The plan was to invite some of the women who might be interested in the Next Generations class at our church to this study at the center first. When that door slammed shut suddenly, I finally started asking the Lord what He thought about this mess I found myself in. Do you not love the answers the God of the Universe applies to your specific situation? My foolish zeal had charged ahead without His help, but now, finally, it seemed like a good time to ask what He thought about it all.

I’m so thankful for King David’s transparency as he recorded his own foolishness in the Bible. Whether he wrote it down in 2 Samuel or someone else did, he usually held nothing back in the Psalms he penned, so this is the passage the Lord brought me to as I tried to untangle my week’s frustrations.

Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.
And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite. 2 Samuel 6:1-10

Just three months later, David tried to move the ark again, this time with success. Why? Because he found out how the Lord wanted His ark moved. The next time David wanted to do something for the Lord, he consulted Nathan the prophet. He wanted to build a temple for the Lord, and the Lord gave him instruction to let his son do it instead. In David’s conversation with the Lord, he found out God had much greater plans than David could have ever imagined.

Would a Bible study at the center have been a bad thing? Not at all. However, starting at the center might not result in women coming to the church. Making that transition can be very difficult, but starting somewhere else was not God’s plan for this new class. I would have known that if I had consulted Him about it. Hopefully, like David, this will be a teaching tool for the future. And perhaps, you can view my foolishness to avoid your own, as well. The Lord is always good to help us learn and grow, isn’t He?

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends! And please pray for us as we begin this new ministry. I would so appreciate it!

Erica B.