Bits for Sunday, July 20

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
Jeremiah 33:3

This is one of those verses I’ve known “forever.” One of those that I learned probably as a five year old. I can spit it out with the best of them, but I never really stopped to think about what it could mean if I would dare to think beyond the obvious.

Maybe I’m the only one who ever stuck to the obvious…but then again, maybe I’m not. So I’m going to share with you what I learned this week.

I have lots of questions for God…and I’m sure that doesn’t shock any of you. And I long ago learned that God isn’t scared away or worn out by my questions, so I feel quite free to ask. But my interpretation of asking…of calling to God…is that I ask a specific question with a specific answer and in whatever time He deems appropriate, He answers in a specific way that I cannot miss. For example, I might say, "God, what color is a pumpkin?" And a week later, I might drive by a pumpkin patch and realize, "Oh! Pumpkins are orange! Thanks, God!" (Okay...truly my life has a BIT more depth than that, but you get the idea.)

The questions I ask are so specific. This week I learned the beauty of recognizing an answer that fell outside my perfect little specific formula.

Normally I don’t mind spilling all sorts of details to you. I figure life is lived in part to share…and I don’t mind sharing. But every now and then some things are just personal, and this is one of those times. So I’m not going to give you every little detail. Just enough that I hope you’ll understand what I learned.

I faced a decision that left me in one of those classic “angel on one shoulder, devil on the other shoulder” moments. I weighed the pros and cons. And I definitely prayed about it. I was specific in my prayers…asking God very pointedly to soften a heart to be receptive to my words. I knew that at some point in this decision process, I was going to have a conversation with a friend, and I knew God needed to do some work in that heart. So I asked for softening, because I expected...well, I wasn't sure what to expect. But none of my imagined options seemed "softened." And I had no idea how God was going to do it. It was somewhat of an impossible task, I figured. That’s why I asked Him to do it. It was beyond my ability.

The day of the conversation rolled around and I was thrown a bit off course because the banter didn’t go as I’d prefabricated it in my mind. (Imagine that.) But the responses I received in the course of the conversation were so filled with gentleness and compassion that they left me truly puzzled.

I pondered (okay…mentally rehashed multiple times) the whole conversation when it ended and I told God that I just didn’t get it…I hadn’t imagined any of it going the way it did and I had no idea what to think of the whole thing.

And that is when the verse came to my mind.

I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
I went into that prayer time days ago asking God to soften a heart to hear my words. He chose to answer in a different way…a better way. I asked for softening, and He gave me responses filled with gentle grace. That was a thousand times better than what I’d thought to ask for…and it was such a confirmation of God’s love to me. He knew that I needed those words in that tone on that day and would never expect them. And furthermore, the heart He softened was MINE. He softened it to hear His Words with unexpected answers.

Sometimes the unserachable things I do not know are not concrete answers to various mysteries I’m aware of…sometimes they’re things so unsearchable that I am truly unaware of them entirely.

And yet, when I’m willing to step back and recognize these moments as answers to my prayers…God delights to allow me to bask in their beauty and to feel His love through them.