When the outcome is far from certain
Blog post by Matt McCoy
8 minute read
Listen to this blog as an audio recording
The question I’d like for us to consider is this:
In the midst of life’s challenges, how do we prepare room for God to walk with us?
And to explore that question, I’d like to start this blog with a Christmas song:
I know I’ll be humming this tune, and I wonder how many people will realize I’m humming a Christmas tune in September? I promise I’m not trying to contribute to the ‘Christmas creep’ of having Christmas on displays in all the big box stores while it still feels like summer outside. Stay with me.
Now that we’ve got this tune stuck in our heads for the rest of the day, let me make an observation of how the song imagines we participate in the coming of the Kingdom of God:
we prepare room in our hearts for King Jesus.
We prepare room. We’ve explored this together last Advent, and we’ll explore this again this coming Advent. If you’ve got time, I’d encourage you to reread our “advent in a barn” blog post. But if not, I’ll hit two highlights here:
Last advent we read Isaiah 40, and how we’re called to go into the desert places (remembering that “the desert” can often be an image for the broken places in our lives, where life’s challenges are especially poignant) and prepare the way for the coming of Jesus.
Jesus fills the spaces where there’s room for him to fill. There was no room for him in the Inn, or in the temple, or in the palace, but there was room for him in a barn. God doesn’t force, cajole, or demand that we do anything. Rather, God invites, woos, and calls us to walk with him, and he fills the spaces where there’s room.
While it’s our nature and our culture to want to be alone when life feels broken, these songs and these scriptures invite us to imagine preparing room within community!
Let’s hold onto this Advent theme of preparing room as we return to our story of Abigail.
In the midst of a life-and-death challenge with an uncertain outcome, Abigail prepared room for God and David. How did she do this? She prepared a meal for David, and she had no idea if it was going to save her life or not. Hannah and Panina ate together, but Hannah didn’t know if things were going to get better. Boaz provided food for Ruth, but Ruth didn’t know that was going to happen when she prepared room for them. Preparing room for God to show up while eating together, without knowing the outcome ahead of time, keeps bubbling up in scripture.
But before we read our story again, I would like to hover over one famous example of “preparing room by preparing a meal” that David wrote about towards the end of his life.
Psalm 23 is quite possibly the most famous of all the 150 psalms we have in the Psalter.
This Psalm was written by an older David after he was established as King of Israel. I don’t know if he had his first encounter with Abigail on his mind when he wrote it, but two similarities are beautiful and amazing to me.
Psalm 23:5, the psalm “prepares a table in the presence of my enemies,” and in this story, Abigail arrives into this canyon with quite a bit of food and wine for the army who intends to kill her, her family, and her servants.
That sure sounds like preparing a table in the presence of enemies to me!
Preparing room for God to show up in the midst of life’s challenges with an uncertain outcome is a big theme of the Christian Story.
Let’s read our story together again, while we hold this big theme in our imaginations:
When we don’t know the outcome of life’s challenges, this story invites us to reflect on how our responses prepare room for God to show up.
Responded to life’s challenges through making himself comfortable, rather than walking with God. He wasn’t preparing room for God. He didn’t prepare room for God to show up.
Responded to life’s challenges through taking control. He didn’t prepare room for God to show up.
She could have responded through fleeing, leaving no room for God to act. Instead, she responded to life’s challenges through…
She prepared room for God in her life and David’s life, even though the outcome was far from certain.
In the midst of life’s challenges, I want my heart to be captivated by walking with God.
However, it’s very easy for my heart to be captivated by making my challenges go away, either through taking control or through making myself more comfortable.
I see this everywhere, but I’ll just give a two examples.
First, as a Dad, I want God to show up in my kid’s lives, and I know God does, all the time. But the outcome my children’s future is far from certain. Will they make good choices for a spouse, for friendships, and for their community? Will they continue to walk in the direction Jesus is walking in? Will they stay in the Kingdom of God or pursue a kingdom of their own making? So what do I do with all the uncertainty that these questions bring to the surface? I can try to control my kid’s future, and act like David, but then I’m not preparing room for God to show up. I can numb myself from that fear, and try to make myself more comfortable, but then I’m not preparing room for God to show up. Instead I hope to pay attention, alongside my children, to who they’re becoming on the way to where they’re going, and the countless ways God shows up and cultivates shalom in our midst. When I’m being honest, this theme bubbles up in my relationship with my wife, my extended family, and all of my friendships, too.
Second, at Spring Church, we want God to show up in our community, and we know God does, all the time. But the outcome for Spring Church is far from certain. Will we want to pursue the sort of Uncommon Friendship we read in the Bible? We will continue to walk in the direction Jesus is walking in with Uncommon Friends? Will we stay in the Kingdom of God or pursue a kingdom of our own making? So what do we do with all that uncertainty that these questions bring to the surface? We can try to control our future, and act like David, but then we’re not preparing room for God to show up. We can numb ourselves from that fear, and try to make church more comfortable, but then we’re not preparing room for God to show up. Instead we hope to pay attention, including paying attention to the overlooked people God is using to disciple us, to who we’re becoming on the way to where we’re going, and the countless ways God shows up and cultivates shalom in our midst. When we’re being honest, this theme bubbles up in our relationship to our vocation, regardless of where our vocation takes us.
Psalm 23:5 you prepare a table for me, in the midst of my enemies.
“Let every heart, prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing…”
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