Jesu, juva
Nobody seems to share this with us when we first sense a calling from God. It’s common to hear about the purpose, blessings, and plans God has for us. What they often leave out is the cost.
The call can be very lonely at times. Not just lonely in a temporary way. Lonely in a way that at times can make us question almost everything.
I share this because when God puts His hand on our life and we begin recognizing a deeply felt calling, He starts removing what doesn’t belong. And a lot of what gets removed can often be people, relationships, comforts. He can remove much of what we know as familiar ground.
That’s not a malfunction. That’s the process.
The Disassembly
There is nothing glamorous about being called by God. We will at times go through seasons of real heartache. We’ll know seasons of discouragement that sit on our chest like a heavy weight. There could even be seasons where we want nothing to do with any of it. It can even get to where we find ourself praying, “Lord, just take this from me. I don’t want it anymore.”
And He doesn’t take it.
Because we can’t outrun what God has put in us. We can begin to think like the world thinks. We can live like the world lives. But there will always be something within us now that won’t settle. Something that keeps pulling us back. That isn’t weakness. That’s God holding onto what He’s claimed.
Our life will get disassembled. And only God can put us back together. This is not intended as a threat. This is actually the point.
The Isolation
Here’s the part that hits the hardest. The people around us often won’t understand what we’re walking through. The people from our past can’t go where we’re going. We’ll begin to sit in conversations and have nothing in common with what’s being said. We’ll begin to feel a sense of distance and not be able to explain it.
And when we feel a need to talk to somebody about what’s really going on inside us, we’ll reach out to others we’ve been close to but now find they just don’t seem to understand. Not because they don’t want to. Because they just don’t have this deeper reference to draw from.
This loneliness is not an accident. God has us in this position for a reason. He is clearing the floor so we have no choice but to lean on Him. Everything else gets removed until He’s the only one left standing.
And then He starts to build.
The Measurement Problem
Most men in this season measure all wrong. A year goes by. Then two. Then three. And from the outside, nothing looks different. We haven’t yet found and recognize our true identity.
We’ve got to stop measuring that way.
Look back, not sideways. It’s crucial to compare who we are now to who we were when this started. The character that’s been hammered out in us isn’t immediately evident in the moment. The faith that’s been tested and held has increased. The flesh that’s been pruned back isn’t always easily recognized. The Word that’s taken root where there used to be nothing but noise will begin to become noticeable.
That is the work. That is the real gain.
We need to remember we can’t always evaluate a season of preparation by how much we’ve produced.
This kind of spiritual growth, even in times we may not recognize it, is always the foundation that everything else gets built on.
What We Have to Hold Onto
God loves us. That is not a soft thing to say. It is the anchor when nothing else makes sense. He is a good God. He has a plan for our life that is not finished. And what He’s building ahead of us is better than anything we could have engineered on our own.
The stripping away is preparation. The loneliness is training. The silence is not abandonment.
Hold the line. He’s not done.
Restoring Old School Manliness
– Blane
SDG
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