God is in charge.

Am I afraid to let Him work?

I am rather good at setting limits on God. I know what He can do and what He can’t. I ask Him to take care of a cold and with medicine and a week or two, I feel well.

I don’t ask for a tour of heaven like the one He gave to Paul and John. He doesn’t do that any longer.

I learned we pray for illnesses conceived in our minds and those attacking our bodies but find it useless to pray for the restoration of veteran’s limbs.

Rather arrogant of me to have God figured out, don’t you think?

When I have God figured out, He becomes dull. God is too great to figure out. Job thought he too had God figured out.

Then God speaks.

That is so understating what happened.

It is more like God dropped His power on Job and blew him away. For three chapters totaling 129 verses God recites His wonders, describes His creation, and declares His power. I can hear the roar of His voice and the deafening sound of the wind.

Surely, the ground shook beneath Job.

He left Job speechless. I suspect Job’s response was so timid and humble he could hardly hear his own reply over the sound of his knocking knees and shaking body parts.

“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”

“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

God is powerful, alive, and in charge. If I am serving church—I can miss Him. When I serve Jesus and listen to His Holy Spirit—I can’t miss seeing God.

By seeing God alive and moving powerfully around the globe within the church and throughout His creation, I can relax. God is in control. It is not my job to worry about keeping the church faithful. He can watch over the church.

Now for my own take a ways.

It seems to me that personality influences people’s approach God. There are those who are cautious in most all areas of life. They despise change. They are comfortable with the church as they know it and perhaps have a hard time believing it might look different and still be faithful to Jesus and Scripture.

If ever there is a time to depend on God as He guides me to tax the brain He gave me, the time is now. I must be astute in interpreting today’s world. Lies seem to be the norm of the day.

To learn to think for oneself based on God’s truth (not based on traditions even if they may be good ones) is probably the greatest tool to help navigate life. God is alive and active. I don’t want to miss what He is doing by standing on the backside of reality defending a tradition that is not true.

I think it is time to be bold and to trust God with the future of His church. It might just be possible for the church of future generations to reflect the cross, be faithful to Jesus, and Scripture, and yet look different from the church of my generation.

Stay tuned.

Gary J. Sorrells – Reflecting on Cross Church.