For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
Isaiah 55:8
I’m no baseball expert but life has got me thinking about the theological meaning of curveballs lately.
The curveball is one of the most dreaded pitches in baseball. Pitchers who throw good ones can make the ball travel at the batter and fool him into thinking it’ll come straight at him, only to suddenly change direction and throw him off-guard. The goal is, of course, to make him anticipate a different ball trajectory, then react too late to the change in direction and miss. Experienced batters know what an opposing pitcher is capable of and adjust their stance to anticipate a curveball. The key is to keep your eye on the ball and be ready for anything.
Do you ever get the feeling that life with God is sometimes full of curveballs? That He does things in answer to prayer in ways you least expect?
Jennifer and I just received one of those curveballs. A couple of years ago we thought that our ministry in Kenya was over, that we had deposited enough True Identity teaching to be carried on by others and would most likely not return.
Wrong!
A small but idyllic retreat center called Eagles Wings we had stayed at during our 2015 trip went on the market and God began to stir our hearts unexpectedly about a True Identity Ministry center in Kenya. We knew the missionaries who had built and run it so we got back in touch. Unfortunately, the asking price was way above what a small ministry like ours could justify so we let it go.
But it would not let us go. Three years and several failed offers later, it still sat there, for significantly less money and still dear to our hearts. We talked, prayed, and decided that an exploratory trip was in order. We went a month ago, not knowing what to expect and even what sort of indications from God to look for.
Instead of burning bushes, rushing winds, writing in the sky, or anything else that would have made His direction in life for us obvious, He opened our eyes to what He had put in place: A network of trusted ministry partners developed over the past 12 years, pledges of support from missionaries we met who live nearby, a beautiful turn-key ministry center, and enticing opportunities for growth not only in Kenya but throughout Central and East Africa.
A dear friend, the venerable Bishop Simon Mwaura, who drove two hours to visit us and tell us how True Identity has changed his life and ministry over the past ten years, put it to us clearly: “It looks to me like God has been preparing you for Kenya and the Church in Kenya for you. He’s just waiting for your decision.” Those words sounded like the Holy Spirit and rocked our souls. So we said “yes.”
We’re back now and have embarked on a faith journey to raise $500,000 by May 1st with a deposit due January 31st to buy Eagles Wings. We have little by way of fundraising skills but faith in a big God Who owns everything, Who provides when He guides, and Who specializes in miracles.
And curve balls.
His goal for those is very different than that of a baseball pitcher. He doesn’t want us to miss. He wants us to grow.
By throwing curveballs, He wants to accomplish three things:
1. Keep us focused on Him. By continually setting our minds on Him, we won’t be caught off-guard. Start getting lazy or distracted by the world or ourselves and we’ll miss His unexpected moves.
2. Stretch our faith. The biggest and most frequent mistake we make in our spiritual lives is to box God in with our expectations of how and when He will act. Sometimes our prayers even become instructions to Him of how we want Him to work. Isaiah 55:8, which I quoted above, implies that He will act and work in ways too lofty for us to understand. We must therefore be on guard against limiting God to what we can understand with our human logic.
3. Make us expect the unexpected. Expecting the unexpected is the outcome of being focused on Him and stretching our faith. It is alertness that comes from the knowledge and experience that God works in unexpected ways. The Bible is full of examples – too numerous to mention. Our lives are full of examples. We fight against our human tendencies to control outcomes by our expectations so we can be ready. But God throws us curveballs so we don’t limit our readiness to just a few ways in which He might work – He wants us to be ready for anything. And He wants us to grow in our knowledge of Him.
Being ready for anything is implied in surrendering to His will. We pray what Jesus taught us: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We know in the back of our heads that this includes us and His plans for our lives. But are we really ready to expect the unexpected of His will? To be challenged by His thoughts and ways that often go against the grain of human logic?
Ultimately, that is what faith is. To blindly follow what you don’t always understand because You know God’s thoughts are superior, and His plans for us are always perfect. To not need the “why” to let Him take us to the “where.”
Are you ready for curveballs? Get close to Him. Make it your business to keep your eye on His hand and expect the unexpected. My guess is that God has a couple of curveballs ready for you this coming year. It’s how you grow in faith!
Photo credit: Chris Chow/Unsplash Images