Calling ALL Doubters, Second-Guessers, and Fans of Arrested Development

My friend, Troy, loves to quote Arrested Development. If you’ve never seen this quirky show (available on Netflix), the episodes and humor build on each other. The writers tucked in dozens of hidden jokes and references that super fans can discover here.

The line that I hear quoted most often:

“I’ve made a huge mistake.”

Even if you’ve never seen the show, you’ve probably spoken a variation on those words.

I have. More times than I remember.

Sometimes I wonder just how many of the people we read about in the opening chapters of Luke’s Gospel had similar doubts, fears, or second-guessing.

This Lent you’re invited to study the arrival, life, death, and resurrection and the birth of the church to rediscover who we are meant to be as the people of God.

(NOTE:  Click here to download a FREE one-page reading guide of Luke and Acts. or upgrade to the downloadable ebook called The 40-Day Live Lent Challenge: A Color Method Study for Luke-Acts for only $8.99. This 200-plus page booklet includes: a welcome letter, the reading plan, instructions on how to use the Color Bible Study Method, ideas on how to get the most from your study, creative artwork, and space to journal and doodle.)

 

 

But what about those of us who feel like we’ve made a huge mistake?

Maybe there’s comfort and wisdom awaiting in today’s reading. Maybe we’ll rediscover it wasn’t a huge mistake, or at least an irreparable one, after all.

Irony.

Few words better describe the opening chapters of Luke’s Gospel. The writer tells us that we’re about to receive a “carefully investigated” and “orderly account” from the first “eyewitnesses and servants”.

The only problem is that what we crash into is anything but dry, boring, stale, or meh.

Shocking discoveries. Strange turns of events. Soul-stirring songs. Heart-wrenching story. Compelling characters.

Luke’s opening is one of longing and fulfillment, marvel and wonder, the Spirit and the supernatural.

Suddenly, we realize that Luke isn’t using words like investigated and orderly to prepare us for boring but ready us for breathtaking.

Luke’s attentive account unfolds like an impossible-to-get-tickets Broadway performance with a star-studded cast (literally).

• An angel appears.
• A man rendered speechless.
• The infertile become pregnant.
• Another angel appears.
• Prophetic words of comfort.
• The promise of another miracle birth.
• Tender bonds between two unlikely souls.
• Magnificat.
• Heavenly host of angels appearing.
• Lowly shepherds hand-selected by God.
• A prophetic encounter with a man in the Temple.
• Zechariah’s song.
• A widow encountering the long awaited love of her life.

The events aren’t orderly as much as they’re extraordinarily… That’s the superlative that rings at every turn.

Jesus arrival displays fireworks of joy, wonder, astonishment.

If you squinch your eyes, you’ll notice a story of hardship, pain, and waiting.

Zechariah endures mouth malady for months.
Elizabeth endures the shame and disgrace of infertility for decades.
Mary endures the natural fear of being “outed” for becoming pregnant out of wedlock.
Mary endures uncomfortable travel to give birth among the stench of barnyard animals.
Simeon endures the great wait.
Anna endures years of lingering for one brief moment.

These opening chapters remind me of a spiritual principle I’ve discovered over the years:

The louder God speaks, the harder it will be.

Sometimes we can fool ourselves into thinking that if God makes something luminous and clear then difficulty or discomfort won’t be involved.

If we take the job…
Adopt the child…
Make the move…
Launch the nonprofit…
Open up the guestroom…
Increase the giving…
Step up in service…
Stretch to include…

Yet these are often the acts of obedience God whispers into our souls.

The nature of God’s voice is that He doesn’t usually just speak once. He echoes.
An unshakable and deeply Biblical idea or thought will penetrate your mind, heart, spirit, and soul. You’ll find yourself with a niggling reality everywhere you turn.

I call those moments “Sacred Echoes” and through the book and Bible study dive deep into the repetitive nature of God’s voice in our lives.

But something I forget, something I think we all forget:

The louder God speaks, the harder it will be.

I rediscovered this on our recent move to Utah. Sometimes I wonder if God could have shouted any louder about this transition. In my gut, I felt like God was jumping up and down (not that God is a jumping bean). He used generous people to make this transition possible.

But the move hasn’t been easy.

On far too many days, I feel the exhaustion of being unsettled. The tears of learning a new culture. The ache of missing life-long Colorado friends. The discombobulating of everything familiar ripped away.

The decibels of God’s voice do not = the ease of what God is asking us to do.

Perhaps that’s why God’s instruction and direction boom inside us.

A day will come in clamorous confusion when we’ll ask, “What was I thinking?” and “Did God really lead me here?”

That’s when we must lean into the reverberations of what God said. What God did. What can be described as “Only God.”

Where God led you today is like a brick path. You must learn to look down and see each detail of how God moved you where you are today. Then look up and remember you’re not alone. He is still with you.

This is best done within in a community of believers, within accordance to Scripture.

Make no mistake. Obedience has never been easy. Will never be easy.

Not for Zachariah. Nor Elizabeth. Nor Mary. Nor Joseph. Nor Simeon. Nor Anna. Nor Jesus. Nor you. Nor me.

God’s kingdom has never been about what’s manageable but what’s manifest.

What are you doubting or second-guessing God about in your life right now?

What feels like a big mistake that may be an invitation to deeper trust and growth?