Romans 4:18-21: Being Prepared
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Last week-end when I was returning home after several days packed with more activity than reflection, I turned on the radio and the words of a sermon saluted me in the dark. The voice spoke through the car speakers saying: Life is not about knowing and understanding what we are doing next, it is about being prepared. The homilist then developed his theme by reminding his radio flock of the number of times that God leads people into greatness . . . without their full comprehension of how or when this plan God speaks of will unfold. The radio voice then told a series of stories and it pointed out that this string of figures from scripture hold something in common: the protagonists are all prepared to receive the word . . . and to follow it in faith . . . hoping against hope . . . obeying, trusting and loving God.
As I made my way home through the warm, falling darkness, the headlamps of my car were only lighting the winding way a hundred yards or so before me. The night was creeping up behind and snugging in beside me; the light before me was fading fast. And even though I was traveling a well-memorized route, I really had no idea of what lay ahead of me in the darkness the headlights did not pierce. But the voice on the radio and the night beyond the car’s head beams drew me on. The homilist reminded listeners that when God invites us to move to a new place he does not divulge the entire plan – this plan is too complex in the first place and knowledge of its entirety is not necessary in the second. It is enough that we follow and enact God’s will as best we can. That is all that is required of us. God knows our strengths and weaknesses. He did, after all, create us.
This always happens to me when I tell God that I think he has chosen an improper servant to do his work after he has sent me into the fray of life and I feel that I have come up short of God’s and my own expectations. Without fail when I am feeling this way, I receive a clear signal that God well knows what he is doing . . . and that I must doubt God and myself less . . . and trust in God and myself more. He delivered the message again on that beautiful dark night last week-end, and here he delivers it again through St. Paul in this recounting of Abraham and Sarah’s leap of faith.
I must devote myself to being more prepared in this life. I must remember that with God all things are possible . . . and I must be prepared to answer God’s call, being fully aware that whatever God has promised he is able to perform.
Image from: http://www.turnbacktogod.com/pray-for-gods-servants/
Written on September 27, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
The Noontimes 
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