Dear Friends:
The Lord said:
Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice . . . And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land (Ex 23:20-21,28-30).
Some place between the good start you make in following God and reaching the goal of his call will come the question, “Now what?” Your progress may stir up a hornets’ nest. You may come up against a whole new set of enemies. You will likely be overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the mission and its dangers.
“Be careful what you ask from God because he may give it to you and you won’t be able to handle it.” These are words of spiritual terrorism, uttered by those who mistake superstition for the knowledge of God.
Our Father in heaven and his Son Jesus, who came to extend the invitation to anyone and everyone in the world to come home, never gives you anything that you can’t handle with his help. His grace is sufficient for you. His power is made perfect in your weakness (2 Cor 12:9).
The Apostle Paul says it plainly: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor 10:13).
The Lord may . . . no, he surely will invite you into a strange land, a place of emptiness and hunger so that you may learn that “he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things” (Ps 107:9).
He will guide you through dry and parched places to that you can understand that he alone is living water and “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (Jn 7:37).
He will lead you into desolate spaces and speak tenderly to you there and make the low place of your troubles a door of hope so that you may know with assurance that he will never leave you or forsake you (Hos 2:14-15; Jos 1:5; Heb 13:5).
You have the Lord’s word on this and if you take one step toward him, he will lead you to the next step and the next step until you are all the way home. He knows that you are fragile and may crumble at any time so he is careful as a loving father is with his children (Ps 103:13-14).
He is a step-by-step God, not a jump-off-the-cliff-for-me trickster. He will take you through ordinary places, icy alpine summits, hot desert sinks, and the meanest of streets so that you may know in every circumstance that he is your God and there is no other (Isa 45:5-7).
Before you lies the frontier of his calling. Are their enemies there? Of course. They are hostile and unwelcoming and will destroy you before they will share with you.
Our text tells us that he has squadrons of hornets in the air seeking out the enemy before it is even in your sight because the Lord knows that you need help before you realize you are facing trouble and he will not let the enemy deny you what he has given you in love.
He may not give it to you all at once. Others may be occupying the place that he has given you and wild beasts may maraud there. You have neither the wisdom nor the strength to deal with all of that now.
It may not be this year or the next, but slowly the land will be cleared, crops will be planted for your sustenance, the enemies will no longer threaten, and nothing will disturb your rest in his care.
In all of this, the Lord is good. He is on your side and you need not fear (Ps 118:5). He gives you just what you need, not more because you might be complacent and self-satisfied and not less because you might walk away from him in desperation (Pr 30:9).
He is the God of enough, and if you want more than he is giving you, or something different than what he is calling you to do, you must ask yourself, “What is it to which my heart clings?”
Whatever it is, give it to him. Ask him to wrest it from you, if you cannot part with it yourself. Take delight in each step of the way with him whose word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path and you will find the journey neither dull nor dark as he calibrates the desires of your heart to match his own (Ps 37:4; Ps 119:105).
You were not wrong when you started out in his direction. He has a purpose and a plan for your life and he will not leave it unfinished (Ps 138:8). All things–from stinging hornets to the passage of time as the threats recede and you grow stronger and more capable in him–all things are used of him for the good of those who love him (Rom 8:28). That would be you.
“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).
Under the mercy of Christ,
Kent
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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.
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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.
Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places published by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.