Where do you want me, Lord?

By Carole McDonnell

Often we do not know where we belong. In the passage of Matthew 8:19-22, we encounter two men. One man wanted to go with Jesus and was told, in effect, to stay where he was. The other was told to follow Jesus immediately and to leave his family. Similar incidents occurred when Jesus healed people. Some he told to return to their families, while he warned others not to return to their city.

Christians all over the world are always faced with this dilemma. Should we return to our former place? Should we bloom where we were planted before the Lord came into our lives?

This can be a real challenge because our faith often depends on our community, or lack of one. When Jesus healed the man from Bethsaida, (Mark 8:22) he called him out of the city. Bethsaida was like Jesus' hometown, a place in which he could not do great miracles because of their unbelief, one of the cities our Lord rebuked because of its lack of faith.

The faithlessness of that town was so great that when Jesus healed this blind man, he did an unprecedented thing and asked the blind man if he saw anything. The man replied that he saw "men as trees walking" and Jesus had to pray again. Then, after the healing, Jesus warned the man not to return again to the city. Yet, when Jesus healed the man who had the Legion, (Mark 5:19) he told him to return to his city and to tell what great things God had done for him.

In Matthew 8:19-22, when one man wanted to leave immediately with Jesus, Jesus told him "the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Presumably, he was asking this particular disciple to allow him to use his house whenever he traveled into the city. Yet he told another man to leave his parent's house and follow him.

The Lord is always calling us to a new place. But it is often difficult to figure out if that is literally a new place. When we think of community, we think of a place where we help and are helped.

Christians come in many sizes, shapes, talents, ages, race, and interests. Every Christian is a part of many communities. Church communities. Political communities. Geographical communities. Racial communities. Work communities. Hobby communities. Some like talking and writing about movies. Some like reading romance novels, others like non-fiction. Some of us want to be chefs, pastors, writers, financiers. Others want to be doctors, mechanics, singers. God has given His people many gifts so that His glory may be seen in all the world and among all people.

What community will be blessed by these gifts? Which community – or gift– should we leave behind? Where do we go? Where will our gifts blossom and bless? Where will they wither? And will we, ourselves, wither if we stay in the wrong place or go to the wrong place? God may call one person to give up reading romance novels because it makes her dissatisfied with her husband, yet he might call another to write Christian romances that depict love and courtship from a Christian perspective.

We are told to bloom where we are planted. The only people we are explicitly warned to always avoid are those who have a form of godliness but who deny God's power (2 Timothy 3:5). This is understandable because those who deny God's working power on earth might affect our faith in God. In all other cases, we are to seek God's will to decide what choices we are to make. He alone knows our destiny and our place. And He will guide us.

As a mother of two sons, a wife and a writer, I have experienced God's guidance in many ways. There have also been moments when I should have asked for His guidance but did not because I assumed I knew the right thing to do. But the Lord is not only the Way, He is the One who creates the Way for us, and the Light that lightens our path.

Carole McDonnell's fiction, devotionals, poetry and essays have appeared in many publishing venues, in print and online. She lives with her husband, their two sons, and their ferocious tabby Ralphina in upstate New York. If you would like to comment on this article you may email: Writers@BlessedLady.com
 

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