If you know me, you know that I used what little strength I had to eat as much food as possible. So I got in my truck and I just drove. I didn't really know where I was going or what I planned on eating, but I knew that I had to start looking if I was ever going to find anything that would satisfy the beast within me. I arrived at a place called Lenny's Sub Shop. Now I work at a sandwich deli, so I know what Im doing when I order my food.
As I took my sandwich back to my seat, I noticed that I was the only customer in the place. It remained that way until I left. As I sat in my truck out front of the deli, I began to ponder the fate of this delectable establishment (yes, it was good). As I sat there I began to think of how risky it was to be an independent deli in this economy.
It got me asking questions like "How does the owner of this place know that he will survive?" and "What does the future hold for this deli?" I sat there long enough to where I began to ask the questions of myself. "What does the end hold for me?"
Sometimes life just moves too fast. I wish it would just slow down for minute so that I could take a harder look at what Im doing. As a follower of Christ I have been promised that the end of it all is Glory. Yet so often I feel as though everything amounts to nothing more than mediocrity.
I believe that the end is Glory because all the evidence I can find supports a glorious purpose. Just as a duck is born away from water, yet it knows that water must exist so that it can fulfill its desire to swim, likewise I have a spirit that hungers and thirsts for Righteousness beyond any that could be attained by man. I also have an insatiable desire for Justice beyond any level of human judicial power or ability.
The structure of things, the evidence points to purpose and to Glory, yet the daily grind of experience often points to meaninglessness.
You see, the deli shop had all the reasons in the world to believe that it would be successful. It was in a prime location, had a great product, and had friendly people. Yet there it was, empty.
Many times in my life I feel the same way about God and His promises. Where is my relief God? Where is my easy life? Where is the Glory?
The owner of Lenny's Sub Shop are most likely asking the same questions "Where are the customers?" Sometimes life just feels as though it is not working, as though God will not help.
But we have made a major mistake in judgement. Unlike Lenny, our hope lies in something infinitely greater than a human business plan. In the Old Testament, a boy named David was promised the throne over Gods people, by God Himself. But David did not reach the throne easily, far from it, he was hunted as a fugitive for the better half of his life before God's promise even began to take shape.
Yet sure enough, there David sat, King of Israel. 30 years of trial and tribulation was what he had to endure before God placed him upon the seat that had been promised so long ago.
And so we are reminded of the Divine Assurance that we have in the Lord. Throughout all of his time in exile and tribulation, David never gave up his faith. With each day that passed he pressed deeper into the promises of his Lord.
Now when I look myself in the face and ask the question "what am I doing?" And when it feels as though nothing God has said is true, I remember David. I remember that the one thing God wants from us is faith in His Promises. Faith in His Son.
Faith in His coming Glory.
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