JUNE 6, 2023

“Ninety percent of success in life is just showing up." 

- Woody Allen

2 CHRONICLES 20-22

15He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’ ”(20:15-17)

JOHN 16:1-15

 7But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

12“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

JOURNAL 

So the deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem was a matter of simple faith. They still had to go out and take up their positions. Obviously they were terrified and obviously they had doubts, so all God asked of them was to show up. How often it is in life that God simply wants us to show up even when we are terrified or doubtful. In fact showing up is often one of the most difficult things because a part of our brain compels us to run and hide when things get scary. Yet when we show up in obedience it's often never as difficult as we imagine. 

I often get tripped up when I project and predict. That's when things get scary, that's when doubt and worry creep in and tempt me to catastrophize tomorrow. I believe this sin goes all the way back to the garden. When we project...we doubt and when we doubt we stop trusting God. Today and only today is what matters. Live it in obedience, show up even if scared and trust that God will handle tomorrow. 

God's word over and over speaks to the imperative that we are to surrender our lives in obedience to God and in obedience to the spirit he sends us. To not...is to follow our own way which can and ultimately will result in actions that do not honor God and as a result destroy us. For ultimately the battle is his...not my own. I just get to be a small part of it.

 8And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

2 CORINTHIANS 9:8