backdate June: When God Tears Down

I had a plan for a gathering that evening that I had spent a month putting in place. Between lunchtime and the start of that gathering at 6 pm, God had totally torn down my plan and replaced it with something I had never expected. I must say I didn’t like it. When I put hard work and time and effort and energy into something, I like to have it somewhat resemble the thing I worked toward. But it turns out that what I was planning simply wasn’t what God had in mind, and what God had in mind turned out to be a whole lot better. Because God took over and tore down what I had planned, something happened that was more amazing than I had ever imagined.

We don’t like it when God tears down, but it is always to build something better. It is painful when God is tearing down the thing you planned, the thing you built. It was painful for the ancient Israelites when they fled Egypt, it was painful for them when they were beaten in the Jeremiah, and it was painful when Jesus disciples watched their beloved leader suffer & die on a cross. But Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The Israelites returned. God brings life from death. Tonight, God tore my plan down, and because God did that, a church was born. And even though it hurt a little the way it happened, I am very, very glad.