Please Don’t Pass Me By

“And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “Oh Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.” Genesis 18:1-3

I don’t want God to pass me by either. But I have to be honest, If God came my way to fulfill a promise, I worry that I might miss his very presence. Chances are I am too busy figuring it out on my own.

As the Lord appeared to Abraham, he was resting in the heat of the day. He was sitting. He was taking a break. He wasn’t running around like a mad-man trying to make the God-promise happen. Abraham and Sarah had been there and done that. It failed.

Lessons learned.

As I flip the pages of my Bible and read the story of Abraham and Sarah, I find myself asking, “I wonder how they ended up making such a mess of things.?” But I know the answer. I’ve been there and done that too.

It goes something like this.

Answer God’s call.
Follow God and the rules (kind of).
Doubt while I am waiting.
Mess up and wear myself out while making my own way.
Repeat.

At what point do we quit playing the same life song over and over again. Instead of repeat, I want the music to play seamlessly from one beautiful song to another. Most of the time I don’t even know how the repeat button got pressed, yet alone how to turn it off. Because I can’t figure out how to stop repeating the same song, I stop what’s playing mid song. Pause. Then search out what I want to hear next. At some point I find myself so frustrated I turn the music off all together.

Why can’t my life song just play out like it was meant to? I don’t mind the ups and downs (most of them), but the repeats and all the pausing and searching out the next song – It makes me a little crazy.

I’ve read the story of Abraham and Sarah as much as I’ve listened to the same repeating life song . But this time, I hit pause and waited at Genesis 17:3 before I moved on to the next chapter and verse. I noticed something different about Abraham, and so did God.

“Then Abraham fell on his face and God said to him.” Genesis 17:3

Instead of hitting repeat, Abraham hit the ground. He fell on his face before God. No more schemes, no more crying out what’s in it for me. Abraham was obedient. And God’s promise followed.

Lessons learned.

This time Abraham didn’t repeat the same mistakes. He obeyed (exactly). He rested. He waited. And when he saw God move, he chased after him. He bowed down and served the Lord.

What’s it going take to finally fall on your face before God? Probably setbacks, failures, and a life-song that is stuck on repeat until you realize God is waiting for you to make him Lord over all.

You may be smart enough, willing enough and blessed enough to get by. But I bet your heart longs for more than getting by. There is an aching in your soul that knows God has a promise for you too, and you want it. But you’ve been too busy doing it on your own and you’ve let the Lord pass you by.

I know. Because it’s my life-song.

Right now, I long to see God’s promises. If I don’t pause long enough to fall on my face and make Him Lord over all, the music will stop. I will get so busy looking for the next best song I won’t see Him walking my way. I don’t want next best. Not this time. I want was God has for me. His promise. His song.

Lessons learned, again.

The answer is the same for me as it is for you and as it was for Abraham.

Trust God. Fall on your face before Him. Do what He asks of you and rest in knowing that he is coming your way with His promises. When He does, bow down and serve him with your whole heart. There is no one that loves you more than He.

He doesn’t just fulfill promises, He is the Promise.