We are doing a tour devotional each night on tour. If you’re not quite up to date, it’s called The Promise Remains Tour, hereafter referred to as PRT. So our devotions are based on the promises of God. The first thing I’ve learned is that the concepts of promise and God are a strange combination. We, as humans, promise to show someone we really meant what we said. But God doesn’t need to do that. God always means what He says. When He speaks, it creates truth. He calls things into existence. God’s promises are just when He says something is going to occur, when He puts it in the future tense. When He says, “I will…”, it’s going to happen. You can count on it. We call those promises. So I thought I would share some of what we’re talking about each night.
The first promise I found was God talking to Adam. He had just stated that it was not good for the man to be alone. Then God says, “I will make him a helper fit for him” (Gen. 2:18b ESV). So this is where we started. God is already building community in the second chapter of the Bible. He is matching us, completing us. Most of us find that in our spouses. God makes a person fit for us, that is strong where we are weak, that loves when we don’t, that notices what we miss. It doesn’t mean that we are now perfect or complete once we are together. Only God completes us. But we have a helper. My wife likes to call it a partner-in-crime. Personally, I try to leave the crime out of it. Additionally, many of us find helpers among our friends, among our church. God makes people that help us become the person He wants us to be. That is a primary purpose of a spouse, friend, or any kind of helper. God didn’t just want Adam to have help being happy. God wanted him to have help walking out the plan God had for him. You can see so much of our dating and friendship cycles in this first story. We look through so man options, trying to find a helper from among the birds, the bees, the animals, the plants. We look at so many things that must seem ridiculous to God. Especially when He already knows His plan to match us with a helper He has designed. And we try to fill that need with a duck-billed platypus.
We’ve seen that on tour as well. We thought maybe Leeland would be a good match. What about Sanctus Real? Maybe Derek Webb and Andrew Peterson? Andrew and Sara Groves? (Actually, I still have hope for those last couple of ideas, maybe in the future.) But we throw out all our ideas. All the while God has matched us up with those who will help us complete His plan for us. This fall it’s our brothers in Building 429 and our sisters in Kimber Rising. At church, God has paired us up with the Recovery at the Stone ministry. In Austin, He has joined us with our friends and families that help us walk His path. Rarely does God choose what I thought would be the best idea. Yet somehow, His plan always works. And that’s how we learn to trust Him. To trust the Promiser. The Promiser who has the power and desire to fulfill each and every one of His promises.
Your thoughts?
Todd
