"Place"

The place to which God calls us,

Is often not our pick,

In fact when you first hear it,

It might make you feel sick.

The Good Lord spoke to Noah,

The flood is on the way,

And you must build a life boat,

So you will be okay.

Abram said that he’d go,

To a place that God would show,

Not knowing where the place was,

He went by faith you know.

Moses heard the Lord say,

From a flaming, burning plant,

Go to the land of Egypt,

And ignore old Pharaoh’s rant.

A great and mighty warrior,

The Lord called him that name,

A scared man name of Gideon,

God used him just the same.

The same God chose a shepherd,

No one else would choose,

He faced an angry giant,

No way God let him lose.

Daniel in a lion’s den,

The three thrown in a fire,

We don’t want to go there,

Find someone else to hire.

God called the prophet Jonah,

Who did not want to go,

And look at what it took for him,

To cooperate and show.

Peter with the rest of them,

Riding out the storm,

Stepped right out into the waves,

And that is our new norm.

A sick man name of Lazarus,

Then dead and in the grave,

Too late for a reversal,

For God to heal and save.

But Jesus said remove it,

And when the stone was gone,

He said to that old dead man,

Come out, and before long,

He was raised to life again,

Unbound and then let go,

He didn’t want to be there,

But God His grace would show.

The worst we can imagine,

The place where Jesus went,

Not my will, but Yours be done,

He prayed when He was sent.

All the way to Calvary,

The place they call the skull,

There to be our Savior,

From hell the world to pull.

The grave would never hold Him,

He came out of that place,

Alive, holding the keys of death,

To give us saving grace.

No, we may not choose it,

But God knows what is best,

The place we find the blessing,

Of peace and joy and rest.

“I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me…” (Jonah 2:5, NLT)

God called Jonah, and many others like him, who did not think they could do what God said to them. Somehow, they overcame their reluctance and went anyway. Jesus talked about a father with two sons, one of whom said he’d do what his father assigned but didn’t, and the other who first said no but later obeyed. The point is not so much the struggle, but the eventual outcome. God loves obedience over sacrifice, even though obeying the Lord typically leads to sacrificing what we want to do. What motivates us to actually do the Lord’s will? It’s the work of the Spirit in our hearts. He not only heals what we do, but the “want to” behind it. We learn to actually delight in doing God’s will, even when it’s inconvenient and uncomfortable.

Lord, help us learn that the place You call us to be and the thing You call us to do, is exactly right, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Jack Sorenson, jacksorensonfineart.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Jack, and God bless you.