What are you doing In The Meantime? - Jane Butler

What are you doing In The Meantime?

I have been contemplating Romans 8:28 in the midst of what we are all experiencing and I have come to think of it as an Oreo cookie. The verse starts off by stating….And we KNOW that for those who love God, all things work together for good….

By no means is Paul saying ALL things are good and we see that; Covid19 is NOT GOOD. Paul says all things work together for good. It is the end result of the circumstances that he speaks of in this verse.

But I asked myself, “What’s in between? ” and like the oreo cookie what is in between is significant. One side of the cookie is the moment we realized the existence of and how devastatingly awful Covid 19 is… while the other side of the cookie is the vision of when all the bans are finally lifted and the ship once again looks as if it is righted. The meantime is where we are living right now. How we choose to live in the meantime is up to us. My hope is that we strive to live it in a way that blesses those we live with and reach out to, so that it tastes to them and to us as sweet as the center of an oreo.

There are so many examples in the Bible of those who were limited and restricted in some way or another, just as some of us may be feeling these days. Through their stories we can see how they handled living in the meantime; they used what they had, what God had given them creatively or materially so we could see that we don’t have to feel caught or trapped in the meantime. Their stories can inject our hearts with hope. While we may wonder why God allowed the virus to happen, their stories remind us that we don’t have to feel stuck in our homes with limited routines. Instead we can have an internal hope that there is purpose, preparation and strategic planning in this meantime and God is weaving our circumstances together into a thing of beauty. At this moment, He is telling us to stop looking at the messed up back of the tapestry with all the knotted twists and turns of His weaving but rather to remember that there is another side of the tapestry; it is the amazingly beautiful side He is creating. And how do we KNOW there is a beautiful side????, because our confirmed faith tells us so. Each of us has a library of evidence to which we can refer; times in our lives when He helped us through small issues as well as cataclysmic circumstances. He was faithful before, during each of those times, and He will be faithful again working all things for good!

David seemed limited and restricted as he hid from King Saul in a cave. David took the messy, rabble of unreliable people God sent him and instead of feeling stuck with these men, David starts to develop them, invest in them and give himself to them until they were transformed into a mighty army.

Take Joseph, while he was restricted during the times of being sold into slavery, unjustly imprisoned, and forgotten by those he helped, he did not let the restrictions bind him to his circumstances. It was Joseph’s obedience and love for Yahweh combined with his God given ability to understand dreams that helped him through those seasons of lack. All along God had a purpose to work Joseph s life together for good.

Jesus Himself, who launched the greatest of all movements, the church, with 12 unreliable, distracted, some not so educated and not very impressive disciples, could have chosen the elite but instead picked guys most of us would skip over; He used what was right in front of Him.

Moses’ limitation was that he lacked the ability to speak eloquently. The Lord allowed Moses to use what he had. His staff was enough to get the job done. He put it in Moses’ hand to change the world.

What has God been doing in your heart? What has He put right in front of you? The deepest conversations and relationships can be made in this season of limits. This is prime time to have contagious faith; to share Jesus with those who are struggling with fear of the unknown or what may happen to them if the virus infects them. In YOUR meantime He may be prompting you to reach out to those in need, encourage someone, pray with those across the miles or in your neighborhood, speak peace into chaos through text or call, write the song you were meant to share with the world or the poetry you never had time to pen before. He wants you to use the gifts He has given you and to use them, with gratitude, to the One who gifted them to you. 

Remember, He doesn’t want the cave in which you find yourself to hold you back. In your meantime, God is still working: He wants to turn your cave into a castle.

He wants to teach your heart and turn your frustration into holy dependence on Him-in the areas of family, health and finances- because you have no control of the big picture and no answers to the big questions. Now is the perfect time to lean into a position of deeper trust and rest in Him.

He wants to build your endurance-the delays in the lifting of covid bans is building your endurance. Just as in the biblical references, at times, decades passed before their lovely tapestries were revealed. Remember He is in the waiting; molding and shaping you!

James tells us to count it all joy when we fall into various trials…knowing that the testing of our faith produces patience and endurance. I don’t think James means that we should rejoice in covid 19 or that it causes limits, but when we really catch a glimpse of eternity we should rejoice because the trial is an opportunity for soul growth. He’ll develop something in us that would not have developed otherwise and with His grace each day we will look more and more like him.

While we endure, in the midst of what seems chaotic, know that He will send down energy from heaven in the form of hope. He is teaching us that we can make it through anything if we cling to Him. JESUS IS HOPE. While we exist in the meantime, our hearts, spirits and souls need hope to sustain. If any are feeling hopeless or hope is dwindling, know the Holy Spirit wants to fill all hope-tanks. Listen, because He is whispering to each one of us, “I haven’t left you, I haven’t forgotten you. I know all things are not good but I am working all things together for good.” Remember, Jesus is the one who could have chosen the castle, but chose the cave and was born in a manger. He’s the one who could have demanded his rights but lived with holy dependence on the Father and as we remember today, on this Good Friday, He’s the one who could have shirked the responsibility, but instead endured the cross, HUMBLY. He’s gone before us and provided for us an anchor for our souls.

Finally, receive and pass on this blessing from Romans15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all JOY and PEACE in BELIEVING, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in HOPE. Choose to Believe He’s working all things for good, Believe he hasn’t abandoned you, Believe He has purpose in the midst of this mess, Believe He has not forsaken you and Believe that the middle of your oreo cookie; YOUR MEANTIME, can be a season of sweet spiritual connections with those God has purposely placed in your circle of influence. Let those in your path, taste and see that your Lord is good and He is risen indeed!…Yes, the Word, in the person of Jesus Christ, is Alive, Active and Available ALL THE TIME!!!

Love and miss you Lifecoast family,

Jane Butler