Certain in Uncertiantity - Daily Devotional May 20, 2010

Bible Reading - Numbers 29, Psalm 73, Isaiah 21, 2 Peter 2

Certain in Uncertainty

As I was pursuing to be a lead pastor and to plant Urban my mentors would always tell me, "get ready for the most rewarding and hardest time of your life". For the first several months when Urban started I thought they were crazy! I mean this was the most fun and thrilling thing I had ever done in my life. Then a few short months into it the hard part kicked in. It is not the finances or even gathering the people that hard. It is not raising up leaders that has presented the toughest issues. The hardest thing with church planting has been to see the choices of people, the pain in there lives, unforeseen circumstance and the fact that the devil does not fight fair.

The day after Fathers Day 2009 my dad passed away expectantly and all though this was probably the toughest day of my life there have been many other challenges and painful moments. Shortly after starting the church 2 couples that I had performed weddings for and who I was very close to both got divorced. This was hard on me personally so in turn it was difficult for the church as well.

Most recently the hardest thing has been to see my 7 year old daughter who is so stinking sensitive to the Holy Spirit get attacked in her thought life. Her thoughts were being so bombarded by the devil it was mind boggling. The things that were coming against her as a 7 year old were things that no 7 year old should have to deal with. It was obvious to us that it was the enemy attacking her so we stood firm in our faith and fought against it. We prayed for her and read her scriptures and after about 3-5 months of fighting the good fight of faith I am blessed to say that she has overcome! This past weekend she was water baptized and there is a new grace and favor on her life. This was one of the hardest things because when the devil attacks children he attacks the heart of a father.

Yesterday would also prove to be one of the hardest days of my life as a church planter. As things that our outside of my control would begin to change the leadership team here at Urban. Often times when this happens there are nor answers or reasons that you can grab onto and when this happens you are often times left to speculate. The way most of us speculate is, "what could I have done different or how could I prevented this or can this be resolved some how? It is in these moments however that I must remember that HE is building HIS church, not me!

The only thing I can latch onto in moments like these is HIM because HE is certain in the midst of my uncertainty. Today I find myself leaning on this scripture today found in our Bible reading. Psalm 73:26, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever". I must never forget that God is all I need! He is my portion and He is my strength. He is the certain in the midst of uncertainty.

What uncertainty are you walking through today?

Tomorrows Bible Reading - Numbers 30, Psalm 74, Isaiah 22, 2 Peter 3

Dream Big
Ben