Every night our two cats, Jeffy and Jack, have to be brought in. Jeffy will run and practically jump in your arms, but Jack is a royal pain. He’s always out and about “hunting and exploring.” We make all those silly sounds to call him that only people who have cats know about. We even shake a little dish filled with cat food. Sometimes he comes, sometimes he doesn’t. When Jack doesn’t come in we worry all night about him.
Last night I went outside to get the cats. Jeffy ran straight at me, then by me, and into the house. And of course Jack was nowhere to be seen. As I began making those aforementioned silly noises, I spotted him over in a field near our house. I called him. No movement. I moved closer to see what he was doing.
Jack was down low in a hunting-like position staring straight ahead. I watched him for about five minutes wondering what he was stalking. Then I called his name and as I did little tiny bird popped up off the ground right in front of Jack. He leapt after it but it flew away.
Jack turned and looked at me with a look that said, “What the heck?! Couldn’t see what I was doing over here? Hello! That was one of the biggest and best birds EVER and YOU scared it away!” After looking one more time at the spot where the bird was, he sulked his way over towards me and let me pick him up.
“Sorry Jack, but you need to come in,” I whispered in his ear. As I put him down inside the house he went over and began to eat some cat food. I’ll bet he was thinking, “Blah, blah, blah. I’m eating the same old BORING cat food when I could’ve been feasting on wild fowl fricassee.”
A few hours later, Jack was sound asleep on the couch. He didn’t even hear the howls and yelps of the pack of coyotes out in the field, but I did. I was sure glad he was inside.
“I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.” (Psalm 119:10, NIV84)
This verse tells us that we can love the Lord and seek him with all our hearts, but still get off track. So it encourages us to ask God to keep us from straying.
The things that get us off track can seem so important and valid, but they are not what God wants. Then when he finds us and directs us back to where we should be, we complain and see it as an interruption, even a disappointment.
“God what are you doing? That was the best situation for me! There was so much potential! I wish I could’ve just stayed there!”
The Bible is filled with accounts of people who God interrupted. They were just going about their business when he called them to something else. Some went willingly, some not. Some saw burning bushes, some were swallowed by fish. Some were thrust into the limelight, some were assigned to obscurity. But one thing is for sure, anytime God interrupts what people were doing, it’s always for the best.
Someone reading this can’t understand why God didn’t let you finish that project. Or why he didn’t let you stay at that place. You were so close. Things looked so good. And now it seems you’ve been taken somewhere unexciting and bland when compared to that hands-on, upbeat place of innovation.
It’s okay. It’s time for you to rest in God’s hands. He knows what’s best for you. He’ll feed you and take care of you. He loves you more than you’ll ever know. And He also knows the dangers darkness brings. He knew the enemy was coming to the place you were, so he has brought you safely to the place where he is.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5–6, NIV84)
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