GRACE AND SPACE TO GROW
Brenda Lineberger
Today’s Scripture: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1a, ESV
Theme: To grow in your relationship with God, become willing to release control to Him rather than trying to hold tightly to it.
FORMER ADVISOR
Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Brenda Lineberger. I was formerly an advisor to the Lord. That’s right. Early in my faith journey, I felt that I needed to help the Lord understand my situation and how to go about answering my prayers for me, my future, and for my family as well. If someone asked me to pray for them, I went to the Lord with a blueprint on how to give them what they needed. My prayer life was exhausting. The words seemed to stop at the ceiling. Pride? Oh, my goodness, absolutely! I was also clueless. I knew who God was, but I did not know Him. Jesus saved me, but I didn’t know Him, either. Not until after much time in His Word did I slowly come to understand the amazing, awesome character and divine power of the Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ.
WE LEARN BEST BY EXAMPLE
We learn by example. Jesus used parables as examples to teach and explain right from wrong, obedience and disobedience. Commandments, laws, statutes, and precepts sound daunting, but He made them simple and understandable. God also gives us examples by letting us see how the people we read about in the Old Testament handled making their choices in life. Let’s look at a few:
Rebekah heard from the Lord that her older twin son (Esau) would serve her younger twin son (Jacob). But she didn’t trust God to keep His promise. She and Jacob took matters into their own hands. That decision and deceit fractured the family and left Jacob with a reputation as a liar and a schemer. It took a hand-to-hand battle with the Lord and a forever-crippled hip to make him into the man God intended him to be. Trusting God would have saved a lot of pain.
Even Abraham had a lapse in judgment when he listened to Sarah. She advised taking Hagar to conceive a child instead of trusting and waiting on God and His promise. That caused a lot of grief as well, both at that time and with ongoing hatred between the offspring of the two half-brothers.
Then on the other hand, Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers as a teenager, trusted and stayed faithful and obedient to God. The Lord never left him, even when he landed in prison. Joseph ended up as the second-in-command of Egypt.
Then there’s David, anointed king as a teenage shepherd and chased for many years by Saul, who sought to kill him. But David trusted and waited for God to fulfill His promise.
NOT PERFECT
These stories are testimonies of imperfect people who had to grow in their faith. They weren’t perfect, and we aren’t either. Their stories taught me that God’s promises are covenants. He takes them seriously and never ever breaks them. They also showed me that trusting God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—to guide and guard while waiting for His plan and will to be fulfilled—is the most awesome, amazing truth and love we could ever imagine.
As for my time as an advisor, I surrendered my plans, my will, and my life to the One who sees, hears, and knows everything.
Make It Personal: Is your prayer life ever exhausting or heavy? Do you sometimes feel like you can’t find the right words? What might change if you began to trust Him more—could it feel like darkness turning to light? What if prayer could feel like talking to your best Friend—because you are? Can you truly learn to trust God with your entire life, apart from spending time in His Word? What might happen if you surrendered your will to Him and asked for His will to be done in you, allowing Him to take your anxieties and turn them into peace beyond understanding? What would it look like for you to truly let go and trust Him with everything?
Pray: Father, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thank You for who You are—our Maker, Father, Savior, and Promise Keeper. And thank You for the gift of Your Word. We ask for wisdom and understanding so we may come to know that we can let go of trying so hard to control things that are better left in Your all-knowing, all-powerful hands. Thank You for showing us that if we keep our minds and eyes on You, we can live above our circumstances where peace and joy exist. Amen.
Read: Genesis 25:22–23; 32:22–32; 39:1,21; 50:20
Weekly Memory Verse: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,” Deuteronomy 10:12, ESV