God. He's a master organizer, preparer and no detail goes unnoticed.
After my marriage ended, I needed time to regather myself. I sought peace, security, safety and I needed healing. God did that in my new found aloneness. I wasn't looking, didn't want, and ran from having a relationship again.
Ever.
I was content with just me and Jesus. But....apparently God had other plans. He was busy in preparation way ahead of me.
Case in point....
I met Steve again (having grown up in church together and living in the same neighborhood 40 years ago) at an event on a Monday afternoon. We chatted on social media that evening. Well. The next day I just happened to have stopped into a department store (in one county over) for a very quick errand before a work appointment that evening - literally running across the store to grab a yard of fabric and dart back out. You know those times that you pray noone sees you? It was 10 minutes....or maybe 9.
Well, I get a message later that evening - "Cindy were you in ____ (a certain store) today about 3:00? I heard footsteps running across the store and thought it was either you or a thief."
Huh?
Yep. Steve just happened to be in that same store, in a different county, for that 10 minute span of time, up in the front of a very large store, and he heard my footsteps but didn't see me and still thought it must be me. Are you kidding me? Whoa....How did that happen?
God.
That chance meeting was an indicator to me that this was something different and a plan that God was in.
He is WAY ahead of us and absolutely no detail is by chance -- it was not only ordained, organized and prepared ahead of time - it goes off like clock work.
Look at Mark 14: 12-16.
Context: This was in preparation of the Last Supper before the events of the crucifixion. The disciples asked Jesus where He wanted them to make the preparations for the Passover meal that they would participate in together. This was His response to them.
12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.
14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’
15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.With God? Everything was furnished and ready.
This is what I took away from the passage.
The disciples asked Jesus first. They didn't go off with their own plans and ask Him to provide. They asked Him what needed to be done.
Look for a man carrying a jar of water? This was not customary as this was the woman's job. But God was in the details. Think about how many women in the city would have been carrying water -- totally confusing on which one to follow. But --with a man? The disciples would notice a man. God didn't care what was customary. He had arranged the details of the scene so that they would know who to follow. They would NOT get confused.
The man carrying water just happened to be there at the perfect time that the disciples had arrived and happened to be going to the house that they needed to go. No matter how far they had had to walk to get there they were not a minute early....not a minute late.
The room had been prepared already. The owner of the house wasn't surprised with their request. In fact...it was already prepared. The room wasn't filled by someone else - at Festival time the city was busy with people but this room? God kept open and waiting for Jesus.
So....
Time was not a limitation for God.
What was customary was not a limitation for God.
People and their choices and actions were not a limitation for God.
Provisions were not a limitation for God.
And for you today? What He has ordained will happen.
In His word, He has already proven that He will:
stop the sun in the sky (Joshua 10:13);
provide water from a rock (Exodus 17:6);
part the waters of the sea (Exodus 14: 21-22; 2 Kings 2:7-8; 2 Kings 2:13-14)
stop the water in a stream (Joshua 3:15-17)
provide food from the sky (Exodus 16:31).
All to fulfill His plan.
No limitations. Prepares every detail. And His plan will be Furnished and Ready.
For me -- what if I had of been 1 minute earlier? Why did I go the day after we met?What if I had of gotten stuck in traffic and running late? Why did I choose that particular store in another county? Why did Steve choose to be standing near the front of the store? Why did my footsteps tell him that it was me when he didn't even see me?
Coincidence....Are you kidding me?
God is preparing right now - the time, the people and the provision that He needs to work out an event, a miracle or provide for a need in your life. But it will be HIS plan - not yours. He will not be late. He has complete control over time, over people who will play a part and over the provisions that you will need when you get there.
Like a game of chess - He is strategic in His moves, powerful in His control and detailed in His approach. He has no match. There is no one or nothing that can come against Him.
So, stop worrying. Rest in His strategic preparation. It's not your job to make it work - it's His.
So my prayer today is:
Father God, You have noone who can compete with Your plan. There is nothing that can stand in the way of what You want to happen. You are miles ahead of us - working and preparing as if moving the chess pieces in place for when we get there. Right now, if you have a job chosen for someone - the potential employer has no say. If you have provision for someone's needs - no one can stop that supply line. If you have a confused mess of a family to straighten out - they have no control. And if you have a healing that needs to occur - no disease can overpower that body. You will stop time, stop nature and control the decisions and details that need to happen in order to provide for your children. We need to rest in your strategic plan and the preparation that You are doing even now.
We trust you and love you dearly.
Amen.
Feel free to share with someone who needs encouragement.
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