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Sometimes the mysterious plans of God means obedience that defies understanding and stretches well beyond the comfort of rational explanation. Sometimes He leads you out on cliff of exposure and vulnerability without a “chicken-exit” in sight.
• Abraham selling the house, packing up the family and heading out without a clue where he was going…
• Gideon, sending away willing fighters, takes on the previously undefeated foe with just 300 dudes that just happened to drink from the stream in a proper manner…
• David, rejecting the security of military armor, goes against the 9-foot tall champion…
• Elijah calling out the 900 prophets and challenging them to a public showdown on a sunbaked hill… And while you are at it, pour some more water on the sacrifice…
• Naaman, leaving his hermetically sterile medical facilities, travels to foreign soil and walks down into a muddy stream. Then, with many looking on, submerges his diseased body into the dirty waters…not once but seven times…
• Hosea publicly wedding himself to the local “call girl” and thinking somehow he could thereby continue and enhance his ministry…

Sometimes the mysterious plans of God means obedience that defies understanding and stretches well beyond the comfort of rational explanation. The very heart of the Christmas story!
• Wedding plans well underway…
• Hard-working, gentle-hearted, tender, well-respected local craftsman soon to be family protector and provider…
• Purity of both body and soul carefully guarded…
• Devotional life, disciplined and vibrant…
• Then…

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb (the purity so carefully guarded now suddenly to be invaded) and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus.”—Luke 1

Sometimes the mysterious plans of God means obedience that defies understanding and stretches well beyond the comfort of rational explanation.

It was an obedience that could have cost her everything. But without hesitation she responded, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word”—Luke 1

Three decades later, the costly obedience of a young engaged woman was still misunderstood and fodder for slander. “WE were not born of sexual immorality! We have ONE Father—even God!” —John 8

Sometimes the mysterious plans of God means obedience that defies understanding and stretches well beyond the comfort of rational explanation!

What if obeying the voice of God meant the “ruin” of your life? What if His leading meant you would become the object of jokes, slander and rejection in your formerly safe community? Is God leading you out of your comfort zone? Is God’s will a call for an irrational act of obedience? Will you trust Him as Mary trusted? Will you, too, say, “Let it be to me according to Your word?”

Sometimes the mysterious plans of God means obedience that defies understanding and stretches well beyond the comfort of rational explanation!

See you Sunday, Church!
Pastor Tom