“He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the dimly burning flame. He will encourage the fainthearted and those tempted to despair.” Isaiah 42: 3 TLB
I think it is safe to say at this point in time, that there are very few people whose lives have not been disrupted by this disease, and chaos-creating quarantine.
My question from the start has been this, “Is this worldwide disruption of all our lives divinely sent?”
And, before anyone pounces on that statement, yes I know, that God does not create evil. He is never the author of such things. And yet, He often chooses to let humanity have its way–which can then result in great evil.
When the bottom drops out
I seem to always find myself asking, “Is this my fault?” especially when the bottom drops out of my life.
Being an analytical thinker, I often look for the “why” of things; especially bad things.
So, of course, as I am bouncing in the back of an ambulance, headed down the interstate at warp speed, and on my way to University Hospital at Davis, I am asking and analyzing like crazy.
“How did I get here? Why did this happen? What the heck is going on God?” (No immediate replies from the Almighty.)
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, right? In fact, I love what George Mueller used to say when quoting this Bible verse, “The steps AND the stops also.”
A Divine Disruption
Here is where I have to comment that this disruption to my nice orderly life, did have a few surprising high points.
First of all, from the time I was wheeled into the Emergency Room at U. C. Davis, I was treated like royalty!
Over twenty orderlies, nurses, and doctors descended on me, each asking me questions about my comfort and condition.
They asked about my life personally, “Oh, you garden. What do you grow?” They smiled! They seemed interested in me.
The doctor, who was obviously in charge, stood to one side barking orders like a drill sargeant, but, she was so kind. Everyone in that ER was kind and gentle with me.
It was truly amazing.
Talk about a Divine Disruption
Later that night as I lay in my bed, I prayed, “Okay God, I am hundreds of miles from home. I am meeting people I have never met before. And, I will probably never meet these people again, at least in this life.
So, why have you sent me here?
Remember the story of Philip–the one in the Book of Acts?
Talk about a Divine Disruption:
Let’s pick up the story starting in the twenty-sixth verse,
But as for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go over to the road that runs from Jerusalem through the Gaza Desert, arriving around noon.” So he did, and who should be coming down the road but the Treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship and was now returning in his chariot, reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the chariot.”
Philip ran over and heard what he was reading and asked, “Do you understand it?”
“Of course not!” the man replied. “How can I when there is no one to instruct me?” And he begged Philip to come up into the chariot and sit with him.
The passage of Scripture he had been reading from was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before the shearers, so he opened not his mouth; in his humiliation, justice was denied him; and who can express the wickedness of the people of his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “Was Isaiah talking about himself or someone else?”
So Philip began with this same Scripture and then used many others to tell him about Jesus. Acts 8: 26-36 TLB
On assignment from God
I got the answer to my questions the next morning.
I was scheduled early the next day to have my leg “set” and put into a cast.
A nurse came into the room I had been wheeled down to, and gave me a shot of fentanyl before the procedure. (It made me really nauseous.)
So, my nurse wanted to keep a close eye on me and we got to chatting. She asked me all kinds of questions about the accident, my life, etc.
Somehow, we got to talking about my ‘faith in God’ and how I believed that everything in my life, was for His kingdom purposes.
That really got her curious, and she began asking me all kinds of questions about my online church (Elevation) and how they were navigating the quarantine, etc.
Suddenly, I knew! This is why you sent me here God; hundreds of miles from home, to meet this woman, and answer her questions.
Your assignment might be hiding
As women of faith, with a God-given destiny and purpose, nothing in your life is by accident. Each step you take is ordered by the LORD. (Psalm 37:23 )
- Has all this quarantine craziness got you down?
- Like me, have you been navigating some nasty stormy circumstances?
- Perhaps, hidden in all your chaos is an assignment–a divine assignment, brought about by a divine disruption.
- Ask God for His perspective on your problems. He is right here, right now, in your circumstance.
- Like me, your circumstances may be very painful. They may seem very confusing. You may have wondered how any good thing can come from all your mess.
- Oh boy! I really do know how you feel. But, if you pray and wait; and worship even in the middle of all this mess, you may discover that this chaotic disruption had a divine purpose hidden under all your rubble.
Remember, God always gets the last word in your life.
It ain’t over until He says it’s over.
Help is on the way.
Women With Destiny 