Why here?
Why now?
Hebrews 11:9-10
NOTE: This devotional is a continuation of that which was
introduced
in the previous devotionals entitled: The Effect of Faith
on the Home,
Home-Making in the Promised Land, and A Question
of Logistics.
There's one more truth I see
here, a final truth that ties it all together. The phrase,
"made his home in the promised land" leads me
to wonder, "Why here? Why now?" Why did God lead
this man to move his home to such a God-forsaken place?
Because it was a God-forsaken place! Let me put it
to you another way. Why do you live where you live? How
did you happen upon the house in which you made your home?
Was it luck? Was it chance? Or was it providence? Just like
the Lord places in churches the believers He wants in those
churches, so the Lord placed you in the house where He wanted
you to make your home. Your living where you live is not
accidental, it's providential.
Some years ago, a lady was
really ticked-off. She was so mad she couldn't control her
anger at God over the fact that He allowed her, a believer,
to work in a place of dirty-mouthed men who cussed and spat
and moaned and groaned, and she had had enough. Because
her anger was getting the best of her, she finally made
an appointment with her pastor so she could talk about this
problem with him. From the moment she sat down, she began
to vent. She talked about their cussin'. She ranted about
their comments. She raved about their lying. She railed
them for their rudeness. Well, after just a little while
of hearing this, whenever she'd take a breath, the pastor
would ask, "Where do you put a light?" The first
few times he asked it, she wasn't even fazed; she just kept
"venting." After the third or fourth time, she
paused and asked, "What? Why do you keep asking me
that? I have no idea where you want to put your light? What
are you…" and then it dawned on her. You put a light
in the darkness. God had placed her, a light, in a very
dark place and now she knew why. She left there that day
with a new mission in mind and a new purpose in life.
Perhaps your neighborhood is
a God-forsaken place, or at least appears that way. The
fact that you are there means He hasn't forsaken it. In
fact, He loves your neighbors so much that He led you to
plant your home there among them. If God didn't "protect"
Abraham and his home by insulating them from all that surrounded
them, why would we think we should be any different? They,
instead, became God's voice in the land and because faith
had permeated their lives and their home so completely,
God knew they would accomplish that for which He planted
them there.
We learned last time that God
creates our homes and sustains our homes, to become what?
To become a "temple unto the Lord." Our homes
are to be little lighthouses all around the city; small-scale
extensions of the church; they are to be Kingdom Outposts.
Now, you look at some churches and you say, "I sure
don't want my home to be an extension of that." And
you're right. There are multitudes of churches that are
more like businesses or social clubs or something else.
No, the church extension God wants your home to most resemble
is that of a wonderful place bathed in grace. A place where
people are loved and accepted, where they walk in and feel
strengthened in the Lord, where they can let their hair
down, their worries out, and the Spirit in.
Your being where you are is
not by accident. It's time, beyond time, for you to start
using your home as God intended: as a Kingdom Outpost, a
missions outreach center to your neighborhood. I can't think
of a better home-strengthening activity than leading people
to Jesus, together. Has faith permeated your home? Don't
you think it's time it should?
