So, if it's as easy as I wrote yesterday to live a life of adventure, then we aren't we all dropping our own wills and plans at the door and following Him for the excitement that He promises? I think the main reason is fear. We are scared of losing control. At least on a roller coaster we know how long our adrenaline rush will last and when it will be over. We are scared that we won't like His call on our lives. We may be bored with our lives now, but at least our routines are safer than the unknown. We don't trust God when He says He has good plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11). We may believe Satan's lie that we can create better lives apart from God and that God's plans for us really aren't all that exciting. We cling to our mundane lives because we like the security of routine and we're scared to let go of what we know, but we're missing out on the immeasurably better way.
I challenge anyone struggling with fear of God's plans to take a closer look at the lives of some of the great people in the Bible. Moses followed God's call, and he spent 40 years wandering in a desert. Boring? Not at all. He got to play a major role in the history of the Jewish people AND he got to witness some major miracles first hand. He heard God call to him from a burning bush (Exodus 3:4), he watched as God turned the staff in his hand into a snake (Exodus 4:4), he watched God send plagues on the Egyptians (Exodus 7-10), he watched as God parted the Red Sea for his people to cross (Exodus 14:21-22), he ate manna that God rained down from heaven (Exodus 16:4), and he held stone tablets in his hand that God had inscribed with the ten commandments (Exodus 31:18), and this is only a taste of the wonders that God worked in Moses's great adventure. The Bible is filled with stories of other men and women whom God blessed with amazing lives. As a small boy, David slew a giant no one else could kill with a single shot from his sling (1 Samuel 17:49). He later became king over all of Israel. Mary had the privilege of giving birth to Jesus, raising Him, and witnessing His ministry. Peter left his fishing boat to follow Jesus, and he saw Jesus heal countless people and feed thousands (Matthew 14:19). He got to walk on water with his Lord (Matthew 14:29) and he felt his Lord lift him up when he began to sink (Matthew 14:31). These are just four examples of many, many people in the Bible who lived the kind of lives of adventure that God has planned for His people.
God has great adventure unlike anything you can imagine in store for each of us. Yes, following Him can be scary, but isn't that the same reason people jump out of planes and ride roller coasters? Something in us craves the thrill of adventure. God created us like this on purpose. He is the source of the true and lasting adventure. And the best part is that because He knows us so intimately (Psalm 139:13), He knows exactly how to thrill us. God calls us to give Him all of our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37) because following Him on the adventure He's got for us requires all that we are. This large call on us is scary, but the good news is that when we give God all of us, He gives us back even more. The adventure He gives us is bigger than us and bigger than what we can imagine (Ephesians 3:20). It's difficult and frightening, but living a life of coninuous adventure, a life that demands your all and requires that you cannot sleepwalk through it, is worth the highest price.
Posted by Kim at July 21, 2006 10:40 AM