15 “If you love me, keep my commands… John 14:15

“Lord PLEASE, get me out of here.  Take me out of this job and put me somewhere where I can REALLY serve you each and every day.  Put me somewhere where I don’t have to hide my faith.  Put me somewhere, where I can speak freely of your love and use your Word openly.”  That was my plea a few days ago as I pulled out of the parking lot at Slippery Rock University.  I prayed about it all the way home that late Wednesday afternoon.  The meeting I had with a student just minutes before had left me spiritually drained, hopeless and wishing for the Rapture to come that very moment.  As I drove back home on the beautiful country roads and looked at the trees beginning to dress up in their fall bests, I couldn’t get that young student out of my mind.  Ephesians 6:12 kept coming back to me:  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

Our battle sure isn’t against the seen world.  We are beyond that now.  We are at war in the spiritual realm.  Warfare is waging, whether we believe it or not, in the world unseen; and it is against our soul and the souls of those whom we love.  The world is only the visible part of the battle field of the powers of darkness.  We can’t see what goes on in the heavenly realms.  But we can get a clue by seeing what is going on right here on earth, around us. 

I walked in the house and Dan was there.  I spilled my guts out to him, not knowing if what I wanted from him was anything more than a listening ear.  As the insightful being he is, he offered some words which touched straight to the heart of matters.  Needless to say, I wasn’t very pleased by it.  In a nutshell, he told me that it was OK for me to quit my job if I felt that was what needed to happen; however, I needed to consider that it is not a good practice to quit when the going gets tough.  He reminded me that wherever I go I will encounter difficulties and hardship.  People are hurting everywhere and kids make wrong choices at every university.  For the final blow, he said how I needed to ponder if, perhaps maybe, God might’ve put me at SRU for a reason. 

That’s when I got really upset!  I sure didn’t want to hear that.  It was an argument I’ve used plenty of times and I sure didn’t want to be hit back on my face with it.  Not today.  Not this afternoon, when all I wanted to do was to run away and hide in a safe and comfortable place where I could feel secured and not stretched to my limits. 

I knew that then; but it has taken me many days to admit it.  I know God gave me this job at SRU for a reason.  The purpose of my stay has not yet been fulfilled, or else He had taken me away by now.  It is clear.  He gave me this job.  I remember 4 years ago when I started back, I didn’t even have to look for it.  It was there, waiting for me.  I had to make no effort.  The job was mine for the taking.  God had prepared it for me, and I took it.  Now, I have to be faithful and obedient to Him until He has accomplished His purpose.  I don’t want to stay.  I much rather be working at a place surrounded by Christian people, where we can resolve issues by going to the Word openly, without “tactics” or “strategies,” but that is not where God seems to want me to be right now. 

He wants me in a place where I can be the light.  He wants me to be a bright light, for the light shines brighter when in the midst of darkness.  He will give me what I need in order for me to be obedient.  There is love in obedience, Jesus said it Himself!  He practiced it Himself.  He became flesh, walked on this earth clothed in humanity and allowed Himself to be crucified all out of obedience to the divine plan that He Himself, as part of the Triune God had designed before the creation of the world.  How then can I not be obedient to Him and put up with a bit of discomfort for the sake of fulfilling my small part in His divine plan?

Like Francis Chan said in his book Crazy Love, we “must learn to listen to and obey God, especially in a society where it’s easy and expected to do what is most comfortable.”  I want to do what is most comfortable, no doubt about it.  I don’t want to expose myself as a believer in an environment that is hostile to Christians.  I don’t want to show my students that I do find my answers to life’s dilemmas in the Bible.  I don’t want to confront people who try to impose their worldly values and points of views on me by telling them that I live my life by other principles.  I don’t want to openly declare that I am a Bible believing evangelical Christian to a group that has nothing but disdain for such a kind.  I want to be comfortable and safe. 

God seems to have other plans, however.  I’m not sure what His exact plan is, but I think it might include me staying put for a little while longer.  I don’t know how He is going to make things work out.  I am nothing but a grasshopper.  But I do know that it is all on Him.  I do not have what it takes.  All I have is Him.  But I also know that by having Him, I have all I need.  His grace is sufficient.  He will sustain me.  He will give me what I need.  He will show me the way as I walk on the path of obedience.  He will do the work through me. 

It might not look like anything impressive to the eyes of the world.  It might just mean that I will quietly survive unharmed.  It might mean that He will give me brothers and sisters in Christ at my work place to strengthen me through them.  It might mean that I will be courageous and not fear openly using Scripture when confronted with difficult situations.  It might mean that I will understand that what I see as a hostile environment is nothing but a bunch of people hurting because they don’t know God.  It might mean that I will realize that all the obstacles to being open about my faith at work come from within myself and the limitations I have imposed on God’s all-powerful agenda.   I do not know what it might mean.  All I know is that He is my Lord and my God.  He is with me and He will never leave me nor forsake me. 

The Spirit of Truth is with us who received Christ as Lord and Savior.  Even though the world doesn’t see it as truth, and denies Him who is Truth, He will not abandon us.  Jesus Himself promised it to us when He said:

^…16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  John 14:16-18

Thank you Holy Spirit.  It is all Yours!