Not Getting What you Want?

We were driving through eastern North Carolina. We would go through these little communities. There would be four shops, a gas station, and ten churches. There was all the evidence you need for why the South is called the Bible Belt. The buildings were small. There were of all kinds of construction. They had all kinds of different names: First Divine Temple of the Living God; The Higher Hope; Missionary Zion Apostles; Redeemer's Home.

I mentioned that on the Henderson Board of Adjustment of the City Zoning, we had had more requests for special use permits for churches than any other request. The person I was riding with said something about how much better it would be to build one big church and bring them all together. But then she said that she could understand why people would keep looking for a church. "If they are not getting what they want from a church, they ought to check out others until they find what they need."

That thought provoked from me the response, "Get what they wanted? There is a very long line of people in the Bible who never got what they wanted from God. Moses did not want the job. Jeremiah did not want the job of being a prophet. Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. Daniel did not want to go into the Lion's den. Jesus did not want to go to the Cross. Paul was opposed to the whole Christian movement. Where did we get the idea that we know what we need in our spiritual life? In fact, maybe the place where you are hearing exactly what you don't want to hear is the place where God is most directly dealing with you."

In fact, I would be willing to wager that it is more often than not where we are being told what we do not want to hear that we have the chance of being guided by the Holy.