“There are two kinds of people:
those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’
and those to whom God says,
‘All right, then, have it your way.’”
~ C.S. Lewis ~
My husband I have been house searching. We know we are going to move, but we are waiting for God’s word to say “go” (which more or less we know it is not until next year). Well I made the mistake of looking before God said “go”. I found the “perfect” house for my family. How could God NOT think it was the perfect house for us?
It was bigger than we could imagine, we could get a great deal because hubby and the builder are great friends. Just like they say when you go to buy a new car “don’t ride in it until you know you are going to buy it”.
Well what did I do, I ran, not walked to the sales office and so the sales lady could open the house for us to “tour”. Big mistake (heck I even had a camera in hand so I could go home and decorate the rooms in my mind). I was stepping further into something I knew I did not have the Lord’s blessing on. Oh but the house was beautiful. It even had a nice playroom on the bottom floor for all my soon to be teenagers could hang out. Oh, and Lord the church functions I could have here. How can this not be your will? If I let go of this, it will never come around again. But I knew I did not have the Lord’s blessing. The Lord (way down in my “I am not listening compartment” said this is not the house for you).
When reality began to hit me, and I knew (really knew) the Lord was not going to budge to my pleadings and scheming. I knew if the Lord could not bless this house I did not want it. Did I go peacefully? No! I cried and cried, and said you always take away my “hope”. I opened up my bible in somewhat frustration (knowing all along I was going to follow God’s word, but we need to hash some things out first, basically I needed to vent before I could move forward). And the verse I opened up to was…
Is. 66:1(b)-2(a)
“Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be? (Yes Lord that is what I have been asking!!)
2 Has not my hand made all these things,
and so they came into being?” (oh, well, yes…..)
The Holy Spirit confirmed that Jesus was listening, he hears my every word and prayer, but the Lord replied “has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?”.
I felt the Lord was reaffirming me that yes, I hear you, and it will come into being, but NOT RIGHT NOW!”
Now I know in reality Isaiah 66 was not written so I could know about my house, but the Lord lead me there so I can honestly say “Thy will be done”.
To read more go to CWO
Thank you for stopping by, feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed!
Related posts:
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
oh my, I have been there, done that before…about a house, among many other things.
Thanks for sharing your perspective. I very much enjoyed it.
Beautiful blog.
Ditto…me too…thankfully what played out was God’s will, not mine.
oh! This just hit me! We’re in the middle of a long struggle of house building! So I can so relate to this! Thanks for the wonderful words!
Oh this happened to us too, we went ahead and got an offer, and got a solicitor, and the house sale was going through, and then they pulled out!
We could not believe it!
We had to wait another two years until God gave us the house that HE intended for us to have and it was just so much better than the previous one had been!
Also one thing we were buying with the previous house was a fantastic view. Six months after the sale had stopped it was announced that this fantastic view was to become a housing estate. The fantastic view is now a 6 foot high brick wall!
God just so knew what was going on there!
WOA! I needed those verses today. Really. GOD IS SOOO GOOD! Thank you.
What a great story! It is always amazing to look back and clearly see God’s hand in our lives.
Thought I’d say hi to out myself as a lurker….!
Wonderful post. It felt like you were reading my mind when you said that you knew you were going to do His will anyway but was just stubborn. That is so me!
Oh so true. I am glad God gives us room to vent on our way to following Him.
So hard to struggle with letting go! Especially when we want so much! Thanks for sharing!
Ah! Such a personal example of what we all have a tendency to think and do. Thank you for the reminder that God speaks to us through His Word!
I couldn’t agree more. Sometimes His ways are not our ways — and thank God for that!!!
How often have I done that!! Now I ask God…make me willing to be willing…or my new one…Lord, I exercise my free will to choose to give up my free will. LOL..sometimes I wish He’d just make me a robot forced to follow Him.
Great post as usual!
Rena
God says if we will build His house He will build our house. When I moved into my dream house I cried for a month afterwards because everything that could go wrong with it did. I really felt led to buy the house and wondered had I missed God altogether. Now, years later, it turns out it was the perfect house for me. Just had to get the kinks out. Trust God. He knows the desires of your heart and he will come through.
That is just how it is in life all around. It’s sooooooooo hard to see what you think will be “just perfect” and have God tell you to WAIT(!). But I have learned that is usually when God has something even better in store than your “just perfect”. Here’s praying that God will lead your family to the PERFECT “just perfect” home!
This is the first house tour I’ve commented on. Lovely, really. We are in the midst of looking for a home, wondering where to go. God got us to the point we are at now and now we are waiting…sometimes not so patiently…for Him to point us in a direction. The Holy Spirit was really working through you and pointed me to your blog. God be with you and your family.
Sorry … I got mixed up … but here’s my comment … and thank you for the verse … I love it and will read more around it tonight
I love this … we find ourselves here sometimes … it’s not always that we’re “here” but which choice we make when we take our next step. Though sin is sin, consequences are not equal. The consequences for you not listening to God in this place were minimal … had you kept going and purchased that house, the consequences would have been really tough. You showed a lot of character in these words!
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this week’s quote. And what a grea illustration that God knows what is best for us, even when we get frustrated on waiting for His will.
Oooh. I love this. Great words right when I needed to hear them.
Don’t be too hard on yourself, we’ve all done this in some way.
God always answers prayer - it’s just that sometimes the answer is “No.”
You know that His plan for you and the house you will end up in will be so much better than the one you thought you needed.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
I came for WFMW and I am so lgad I hung around a bit. YOu’re great!
Wow, perfect timing for me to hear this. I have my way of trying to push my will onto God. Very dangerous. I am trying to be more obedient, but IT IS HARD!!!