Peace family, what makes you feel brave to do God’s will? Often, others’ stories can do that for me.
I love stories where people have to overcome all odds to do what God desires, and where the obedience hurts, but it is so worth it as God redeems a seemingly futile situation. Over the weekend, my housemate and I watched the movie, End of the Spear, which is all about God’s movement in a situation like that! Based on a true story, End of the Spear follows God’s transformation of the Ecuadorian Auca tribe, a fiercely violent tribe living in the Amazonian rain forest, chiefly through the interactions between two families, one of natives, and one of American missionaries. I don’t want to give away too much in case you haven’t seen it, but the people in the story, both tribesmen and missionaries, are faced with decision after decision to step closer to God, often in life-or-death ways. Every time I watch it, it makes me want to be brave, and to do what God asks of me, even when it hurts. It gives me courage to obey God, even when I am suffering and don’t see the benefits, and even when I might never see them in my lifetime.
Peace family, a movie is great, but can you and I trust that God can really move when we make hard choices, even choices where we might never see any victory? Yes, we can! Abraham never saw all of the descendants that God promised him, and yet here we are. But what if we don’t know how to do what God asks? Pray, read the Bible, and talk to others. God knows a solution and he will equip you to do what he has asked. He will not leave us as an orphans (see John 14:18). Just take the first step of obedience. God is faithful, the core of his character is goodness and truth, and we can trust that the heartaches we face will somehow come out to the greatest good (see Romans 8:28). His ways are not our ways, and sometimes we will not understand him, but it is ok, becuase we can trust that He knows best (see Isaiah 55:8-9). You are going to be ok, and you are secure in his love, even when what happens does not look like what seems best to us (see Deuteronomy 31:6).
Peace family, if you need a little boost today, why not watch End of the Spear, and really think about how many different choices are made throughout the movie to do the hard but right thing? I hope it will encourage you as much as it encouraged me!
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