jennifer-roberts Think about a time you felt God nudging you to move. It could have been a geographic move, but more than likely it was a spiritual, mental, or emotional move that you felt God urging you to make. How did you respond?
I am in a moving season in several areas of my life. I have been married for 19 years and God is ushering my husband and I into a season of mentorship in which we can guide and support younger, married couples. God is moving me into a new season of motherhood. My children are 11 and 14 and I am learning to mother them in a different way than I did when they were younger. I have taught them the basic lessons of childhood and now I must coach them and hold them accountable. This is a tough transition for me. I am also moving forward in my personal work.
For 14 years I have been a stay-at-home mom prioritizing my family’s needs and wants above my own. I scheduled my life around theirs but now I am in a season in which I have the flexibility and the support to prioritize my needs and desires. God has placed pursuits inside of me that are quickly taking shape and I am moving into an area of commitment to these purposes that I haven’t had the ability to operate in before. As I work hard to make these transitions, I feel overwhelmed, but I am also excited and hopeful.
I know that I can’t stay where I’ve been because that season no longer fits. Staying would be like an elementary school student who has successfully completed all of the requirements to be promoted to middle school, yet he insists on repeating that final year again and again or a preschooler trying to squeeze her foot into a shoe that fit her as a baby but is now clearly too small.
I am learning to let go of what was and embrace that which is becoming. My past is familiar and provides lessons that will be helpful as I move into my future, but I can’t stay where I was and neither can you.
I heard a powerful sermon years ago by Pastor Jeffrey Johnson of Eastern Star Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. The sermon was taken from 1 Kings 17. There are many wonderful lessons in this one passage of scripture, but I want to focus on one that will help propel me to the place that God would have to me to go and will hopefully encourage you as well.
1 Kings 17: 2-8, “Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “”Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kareth Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.”” So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: Go at once to Zaraphath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.”
In these seven verses we see God give instructions, Elijah obey the instructions, benefit from the instructions and then God give new instructions. If you continue reading the chapter you will see Elijah obey again. This is a practical illustration of how we are to respond when God says go.
Elijah listened and went to the brook. There, he was refreshed and nourished by provisions from the Lord. God even changed the nature of ravens to be takers and turned them into givers that supplied Elijah with what he needed. God provided everything Elijah needed for the season that Elijah needed it but Elijah wasn’t supposed to stay there. The brook was a stop on Elijah’s journey not his destination. The Bible tell us in verse seven that the brook dried up. This means that the very resource that God provided was no longer available. The brook drying up was a sign that Elijah would not have been able to thrive any longer in the place that God had sent him because what he needed to live was no longer available. But God didn’t leave Elijah stranded, He gave him new instructions so that Elijah could successfully continue his journey.
Sometimes we get comfortable at a stop on our journey. We set up camp at the brook instead of making it a pit stop. We become stagnant, ineffective, stubborn, and unwilling to move which stunts our growth.
The brook in 1 Kings 17 represents the resources that God provides in various seasons of our life for our benefit and for our development. Maybe your brook is a financial resource, a relationship, a talent, a skill or a virtue. If your resources have dissipated and you sense God directing you elsewhere it doesn’t mean that you’ve done something wrong; it may be a sign that it’s time to move on. It may be a sign that you have completed that leg of the journey and now it’s time for the next one. After you hear from God, trust that He will provide what you need for the next part of your journey.
I encourage you, even as I encourage myself, to seek the Lord as you prepare to make your next move. As you submit your hesitancy and trepidation to him in prayer and seek His direction for your life, I pray that you would do so with confidence that He will be with you and that He will guide as you move in obedience to His plan for your life.
