Let It Be To Me

Have you ever lost anything? Your keys, your phone? This week I lost my debit card. I thought it was gone. I retraced my steps from my walk at the park, and I couldn’t find it.

I ended up getting it back after a nice person returned it to the store I had been in to buy Olivia shoes. I lost my card because ultimately I forgot to put it somewhere safe.

I lost something else this week. My journal. The one that carries all of my prayers, hopes, dreams, and notes from a Bible study I did with a friend a few months ago.

I can’t find my journal though. Because I forgot where I put it. You loose something because you forget.

Have you ever forgotten anything? Maybe you forgot to text a friend back, or you forgot where you put your keys? Maybe you forgot to pay the credit card bill, or your best friend’s birthday?

We all unintentionally forget things. But have you ever tried to purposefully forget something?

I have. And for awhile it was God’s promise to me.

Before I continue I want to pose a question to you. Do you think that we should forget or try to forget His promises to us?

Behold: To stand in awe. To look and be amazed. To fix your eyes upon in anticipation.

God made me some specific promises over the past year. Promises that made me tell Him that if He provided the promise, then I would follow Him. He must have laughed at me, because I was acting in reason and not in faith, because then He asked me to step out of the boat in faith, believing that as I did He would provide the promise.

That promise was confirmed over and over again. But although He has been sustaining us, the promise hasn’t happened.

At some point I started to pray that I would forget His promise. It got too hard to expect Him to come through when people I didn’t really know, who don’t know our journey, would pray and confirm a promise that just wasn’t happening. In really thinking about it, God probably sent those people to help me to keep moving forward. But there were times that I didn’t see it like that, I saw it more as torture.

I got to a point a few weeks ago where I surrendered it all to God. I said Fulfill Your promise, or don’t. I don’t care what happens, I am still going to follow you.

That was it. Moving on, no expectations of any promise.

But see, God didn’t want me to forget His promise because a week ago someone I don’t really know at all texted and said “The promise is coming, and that is a God promise”. Again, this is probably something that should have given me hope, but it didn’t. On a day that had already held failures, it made me angry.

Since then I have been considering my approach to the promise. Should I pray to forget it? Should I get angry when God places it on someones heart to send me such a specific encouragement? What should my response be? What should our response be as those who follow Christ?

I am the Lord’s servant, may it be as you have said.

I have to reflect on how Mary responded after the angel appeared to her to tell her not to be afraid, that she has found favor with God, and will concieve a son and He will be named Jesus and will be called the Son of God. She responds to this by saying I am the Lord’s servant, may it be as you have said.

Other translations read:

May your word to me to fulfilled (NIV)
May everything that you have said about me come true (NLT)
Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word (ESV)

There it is. Behold. My word for this year is “Behold”. Another way of saying behold is, that it is important to pay attention to what happens next, and to observe with surprise.

No, His promises are not supposed to be forgotten, they are supposed to be expected. They are made to help us prepare for what is ahead. He speaks them to help guide us on the path He has before us. They are spoken so His will will be done.

And more importantly, when He makes a promise, it is to show us who He is. So, when we forget His promises, we forget who He is. We forget that He is able, and will do more than we could ever ask or imagine when we allow Him to crush our unbelief so He can reveal to us who He is. Truly we must remember that although the promise effects us, it is about Him.

God, help us to approach Your promises like Mary did. Let it be to us as You have said. We don’t need to know how, we just need to know who You are. You are faithful, You are good, and Your word never returns void. But most importantly, may we remember that it is really not about us, it is about You. So may Your will be done as it effects us. In Jesus name, Amen.