Beloved,
Life is full of interruptions. Or, at least, that is the way I tend to think. I have my days and weeks well planned, and then – boom! – something or someone comes out of nowhere and throws it all of. Getting stranded on the way home from presbytery due to a bad alternator appeared to be an interruption. I had intended to be home and in bed by 9:00pm in order to get sufficient sleep for the Lord’s Day. My plans got interrupted. But actually it was an opportunity for the Lord to teach me a vital lesson. As we sat in the waiting room, Tessa sent me a C.S. Lewis quote that she keeps on the refrigerator at home. Lewis wrote,
“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life – the life God is sending one day by day.”
Spoken like a true Calvinist! Yet, ironically, Lewis was far from Reformed.
If God is exhaustively sovereign over the details of our existence, nothing is, properly speaking, an interruption. Every thing that comes our way, including all the unpleasantries of life in a fallen world, are from His gracious fatherly hand. To grasp that is to enter into a whole new level of living! Suddenly an unexpected auto repair is an opportunity for conversation with your stranded co-travelers and for dependence upon the Lord in anticipation of poor sleep.
Let me give you another example from this week. On Monday Tessa reminded me we had dentist appointments early on Tuesday morning. I had failed to put them on my calendar and had not factored that into my week. But after some initial frustration, God helped me to embrace it as the life he was sending me for Tuesday, April 5th. And by His grace, I actually enjoyed it! I had a good conversation with my dental hygienist. It felt great to get my teeth polished. I took Vos and Canon to a nearby breakfast place while Tessa and Owen were getting their teeth cleaned and simply sought to delight in them as they delighted in a big sugary breakfast (what better way to promote clean teeth!). And I laughed incredibly hard as Vos stealthily escaped my gaze while talking to the receptionist, got into the elevator, closed the door, and hit the emergency help button! What I was tempted to view as an interruption actually was an opportunity to enjoy God and His good gifts.
Here is the truth – auto repairs and dentist appointments (along with traffic and taxes!) are my real life. And presumably they are yours too. I guarantee that before the day is through you and I will meet with unpleasant things or people that we are tempted to label “interruptions.” But can I encourage you, in light of the God who works all things according to the council of His will (Eph. 1:11) and all things for the good of His beloved people (Rom. 8:28), to embrace them as the life God is sending you in the here and now?
To do so is to live like a true Calvinist. To do so is to live like a true Christian.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Nick