Meeting God Where You Are

My wife Gemma recently shared in a Seed how we have relocated from the north-west to the east of England. As I write this Seed we have reached a stage in our unpacking where our new home is actually beginning to look like a home. That’s not to say that all the boxes and crates have now been unpacked! Actually, those still waiting to be unpacked are now stored in a room at the top of our house. I have been referring to that room as ‘the storeroom’ but my vision for that room has always been as a music room where I could practise but also a place to worship and meet with the Lord.

I must admit that when I first saw it filled with a chaotic assortment of boxes that vision seemed a far-off dream. I felt a sense of embarrassment and almost shame when I saw how much clutter I have accumulated over the years and had brought with us on our latest move. Although I realised that shame wasn’t from the Lord I felt overwhelmed at the mountain before me that I knew I would have to seriously sort through. As I have begun to do that I have gradually cleared a space which I can actually use to practise but perhaps more importantly where I’ve been able to sit and sing to the Lord. In the midst of the clutter He has met with me.

I love the account of Jacob’s encounter with God in the wilderness when he was fleeing from his brother Esau, after he had defrauded him of their father Isaac’s blessing. Making camp for the night he lay down to sleep with a stone as his pillow and had that amazing dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder from heaven, a dream that pointed to the day when God would come down to earth in the person of His Son Jesus. Jacob’s waking expression of wonder in our verse for today has always impacted me. God’s presence transforms the place where He meets us. Jacob’s stone pillow in the wilderness became Bethel, the House of God and for me our storeroom becomes a place of worship.

The Lord doesn’t wait until all the mess and clutter of our lives is tidied up before meeting with us. If we invite Him, He will meet us in it, and even help us sort through it, filling every space that’s cleared with His presence. Just as the Children of Israel had to take the Promised Land bit by bit, so the Lord leads us bit by bit into His healing and promises for our lives.

If, as you look at your life today, you see a mountain of issues yet to be dealt with, why not ask the Lord to just help with that issue that He’s shining His light on at this time?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You that You want to meet me just where I am and that you transform even the waste places of my life into altars of worship. Amen.