Oh, So That's Why!

Do not be afraid

  to go down to Egypt,

for there

I will make you

         into a great nation.

I Myself will go down

    with you to Egypt...

          Genesis 46. 3-4

(Sometimes God guides us

to unusual, unlikely,

     strange places  

    and odd situations

that we never would have

   chosen on our own.

But He promises

       to go with us

   for His deeper purposes.

The for there

    may even be right here.

We need not know why,

   but just to be faithful

              in the doing.

God is forming something new

                     in us

and His glory gets all over it.

And someday, we just might realize

    "Oh, so that's why!")

O LORD,

Help us to be sensitive

    and responsive

            to Your leading,

even to foreign lands,

even on our familiar

            patch of ground.

Please aid us

   not just to see this place

          with new eyes,

but to trust You

    with a different heart.

Wherever we are,

   You bring Your glory to it.

Wherever we are,

  You abide with us there.

Dissolve our fear of the unknown,

knowing that it is

         not unknown to You.

You turn our questions

   into exclamation points!