Go A Little Farther

Our Monday Devotion comes to us from Council Member, Lahoma:

"God watches over the ways of the righteous…" Psalm 1:6a

A couple of Saturdays ago, I was running by myself in the early morning. It was one of those really blustery days with lots of dust and leaves flying all around me. For those of you who train, you know it’s hard to run but even harder to do it in the wind, especially if you are running into it. It causes more resistance and you have to push harder, but you learn that this helps strengthen you, and also allows you to be grateful when the wind stops! I had planned an 8 mile run, and with the weather conditions, I was really looking forward to being done. As I neared the turnaround point, I had the strangest experience. I clearly heard the Spirit of God whisper to me four gentle words but not the words I expected: “Go a little farther.” Pause…. “What?”, I asked out loud just as a gust of dust filled my mouth with dirt and made me cough and sneeze… farther? “I must have misheard You, Lord in all this WIND…. Did You say farther…. IN this wind? Can I go farther next week? Isn’t 8 miles enough today, Lord? How much farther did You have in mind, a couple of steps, a block???” He must have just been smiling at me and after a few moments of my flustering in the blustering wind He firmly repeated His first message even more clearly than before: “Go a little farther.” As I reached the turnaround I sheepishly slowed down… then reluctantly said, “Ok, Lord, I’ll go a little farther”, so I did. I went up about another eighth of a mile to the next light and then turned around to head home in the blazing sun that was shining in my eyes now and bringing the heat and wind even more fiercely. I have learned over the years not to really question God when He speaks to me so clearly, but this day I was really struggling with why, not that I needed to know why to obey His voice, but as humans, that is one of the things we tend to ask Him the most.. why God is this happening? Or this NOT happening? Non believers are blocked from accepting the reality of God because they don’t understand why a loving God allows so much evil and pain in the world, or why He allowed certain things to happen in their own lives. Sometimes, my friends, we are not privileged to know the answer of the “Why”. Remember Job? I am sure he wondered “Why” all the days and weeks and months of his undeserved and unrelenting suffering and pain. In the end, God never told Him why, only that He was God, and that was enough. That needs to be enough for us too.

So, here I went, running alone, back home, with an extra quarter mile on my distance, not that bad but just seemingly not necessary in my vast understanding as a tiny human being while all along my Infinite All-knowing God was watching over me. The wind had not relented in fact it had intensified and I watched other runners on the street struggling to carry on as well. My route took me back to one of our familiar running stretches which is on the dirt path of Esplanade, and as I turned onto the path, I suddenly realized WHY my loving Heavenly Father had asked me to go farther…. By me going farther, it had delayed my arrival to the Esplanade trail and as most of my running friends will attest to, there are many very tall Eucalyptus trees along the north end of that trail. As my eyes grew wider and wider, I watched a GIANT 12 foot branch that was about 12 inches thick suddenly crash vertically onto the ground with dirt flying and sand splattering out on all sides, just barely missing the dog walkers ahead of me… and you know how far ahead of me it happened? about a quarter mile. It hit the ground with such force that I scarcely doubt that anyone could have escaped being crushed by it nor seen it coming straight down from the sky. I stopped where I was and had to just look up and say THANK YOU, God, for asking me to “go a little farther”. You saved my life, You protected me, You knew this branch was coming down and you delayed me just enough to miss the disaster and yet see the results of obeying You when I didn’t understand the “WHY’ of it. As I approached the tree branch, I had to step over it to continue, and I took one of the leaves from it for my Bible as a reminder that sometimes God asks us to go farther for our own good. Sometimes our God calls us to stretch ourselves beforehand so a disaster can be avoided later on in our lives.

I challenge each of you this day to pause and consider the value of listening to God’s still small voice, and to never turn away when He asks you to “go a little farther”. Our times of surrender and obedience bring glory to His name, and whether you get to see “why” or not, ALWAYS remember that our God is watching over the big and little things in our lives, and will never leave you nor forsake you, and He will go a little farther with you when He calls you to, so when the going gets tough and “farther” is “harder”, you can lean on HIM. Remember that He is your refuge, your protection, a fortress in whom you can trust. He’s got your back, your front, your path, your past, your present AND your future all in His mighty hands. Trust Him… for all things (even “farther”) work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose! Romans 8:28

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2

Shalom, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,
Sister Lahoma

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