Do You See What God is Doing?
I recently stood in a classroom with a student I had taught a year and a half ago. When I first saw her, I hardly recognized her. Years ago, I would have described her demeanour as nervous, obnoxious, angry and unstable. She had been addicted to drugs – and depression consumed her completely. Now, she was calm, her eyes were bright and clear and she looked content. She could hardly contain her story of change and transformation after she hit what she called “rock bottom”. It was like she was a whole new person! What stood out to me most, while listening to her was her new ability to complete what she began. She is going to finish grade twelve! She is going to bring to completion her years of hard work and study, having worked through the effects of abuse and addiction, and ultimately – she is going to graduate and move into new places. Everything has changed for her. She is learning to be faithful and to follow through.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ commitment to the cross was strengthened by His belief that:
God will always bring to completion ALL that He commits to.
Let me repeat that, God will always bring to completion ALL that he commits to.
In the Garden, Jesus sees what God is doing. He sees that God is COMPLETING what He began. He is doing what He said He would do.
Do you see this in your life today?
That God is at work in various places, ways and people? Because WHEN YOU SEE WHAT GOD IS DOING, YOU ARE EMPOWERED to follow through in your own life too.
Just like Jesus did.
In the Garden that night… The shadows of olive trees moved along the ground, branches rustled in the cooling wind. The Garden was dark and the air hung heavy. It smelled like the Mediterranean sea and everything was green, damp and musty. The scriptures say that Jesus was filled with anguish and deep distress. He told his disciples, His friends… The people He loved… “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death.” The scripture says that Jesus literally fell face down on the ground asking God the Father to take the cup away from Him… “Yet I want your will, not mine” He said. The face of God slammed into the very soil He created to be the birthplace of life.
Then the soldiers came, they arrested Jesus, and Peter sliced off the ear of the High Priest’s Servant. In this moment of chaos, Jesus could SEE what God was doing and He is EMPOWERED to respond to Peter saying, “Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?” To FULFILL means to COMPLETE. God is following through with HIS promise to bring EMANCIPATION and RECONCILIATION to people like you and me who could never do it on our own.
By seeing what God is doing, Jesus is also EMPOWERED to respond to the crowd that has come to arrest, accuse and abuse Him. He says, “But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.”
Jesus responds to His enemies by committing His own will to God’s will – even though it meant He would stagger and stumble along a Roman road and be nailed to a tree.
Talking with my student that day in the classroom, I marvelled at her endurance and ability to complete that which she began. This was a radical mark of transformation.
When we live marked with the radical commitment, like Jesus, to see what God is doing (He is working all things together for your good), and see what God has done (He has freed you from the penalty and power of sin), we are strengthened to follow through too. Whether it is completing a task or project, rebuilding a relationship, choosing forgiveness, or learning to rest – you can do it – And He that began a good work in you will bring it to completion, as you align your will with His.
Do you see what God is doing in you? Around you? Do you see what He is bringing to completion in your life? Do you see what He has done for you? Do you believe that HE WILL BE FAITHFUL TO COMPLETE THAT WHICH HE BEGAN IN YOU?
Jesus saw it. Jesus believed it.
And His commitment to God’s will changed the world. Forever.
