Staying Behind the Lord

Staying behind the Lord as I walk through life is tricky.

I’m not the only one.

King David, a man after God‘s own heart, often got ahead of his Lord–even with the best of intentions.

At the end of his life, David said to Nathan the high priest, “Hey, I’ve got a great idea. Let’s build God a temple.”
Nathan said without hesitation. “Yes. That sounds terrific. Go for it.”

(This is a Michelle paraphrase)

Nathan went home and that night God stopped by.

“Did I ask you guys to build me a temple? What makes you think I’m not perfectly happy living in a tent? You go back and tell David, no, there’s too much blood on his hands. I’ll reserve temple building for his son.”

The two men forgot about staying behind the Lord.

Why not check in to stay behind?

So many times in my life I’ve had a great idea about how to serve God and before checking to make sure that’s what God had in mind for me.

I then run off to put it all into motion.

At some point I realize I didn’t invite God along, much less ask if my idea was in agreement with His.
So, I stop, look back, and ask God to come along and sort of do a “catch up” type of blessing.

Praying for God to direct our day

Lately, my prayer partner and I have been trying to stay behind God rather than in front of him–asking Him to direct the day, rather than assume he’s along for the ride.

It certainly feels much better and leads to other interesting activities . . .
After we prayed that God would direct our day yesterday, I stopped by Starbucks for a mocha to get through a long day after a very short night of not sleeping.

I opened the glass doors, got hit by the strong scent of coffee and thought, “Great, only one person in line ahead of me.”

God whispered, “Buy that man a cup of coffee.”

One of the best things about being a nondescript middle-aged woman is you’re completely benign. Anyone under  45 assumes you’re their mother and anyone older than 70 thinks you’re a kid.

This was a mid-thirties Latino guy in work clothes. I stepped up behind him and as he reached for his wallet, I said, “ I’ll be paying for his drink.”

Everyone turned to look at me, no one more astounded than the customer–who of course saw someone who should have been his mother but didn’t look like her. The Starbucks staff beamed.

Were those tears in the man’s eyes?

In those awkward moments while the staff cheerful made our drinks, he told me about his life with seven children out in the country.

I laughed all the way home. So very much fun.

And all because I was staying behind the Lord, rather than in front of him!