I’m Still Climbing
The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash[a] king of Israel: When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. (Hosea 1:1-3)
When we spend time with this text, what we discover is that sometimes the will of God is not found in the neat picture we have imagined for our lives. Sometimes it is revealed and manifested in the complicated, and often times thorny, circumstances of life.
Can you imagine what was going through Hosea’s mind when he was told to marry a prostitute? But sometimes the will of God departs from the conventional paradigm and set of expectations that we see and set for ourselves. God wanted to show His children then, and us now, that life does not always leads us down paths that are simple and straight.
Langston Hughes conveys this in one of his poems, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” In other words, life isn’t always smooth, polished, or easy. No, he says, “It’s had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor -- Bare.” There are things in the staircase of life Hughes is trying to convey, things that are not easy, things that might hurt you, things that might trip you up, and yet, even though there are stairs with no carpet, he says, “...I'se still climbin'.”
So if you find yourself in a situation that doesn’t look the way you planned, don’t stop persevering. Keep climbing. Keep pressing on, always looking forward to what God has in store for you, no matter how unconventional it may be.
When we spend time with this text, what we discover is that sometimes the will of God is not found in the neat picture we have imagined for our lives. Sometimes it is revealed and manifested in the complicated, and often times thorny, circumstances of life.
Can you imagine what was going through Hosea’s mind when he was told to marry a prostitute? But sometimes the will of God departs from the conventional paradigm and set of expectations that we see and set for ourselves. God wanted to show His children then, and us now, that life does not always leads us down paths that are simple and straight.
Langston Hughes conveys this in one of his poems, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” In other words, life isn’t always smooth, polished, or easy. No, he says, “It’s had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor -- Bare.” There are things in the staircase of life Hughes is trying to convey, things that are not easy, things that might hurt you, things that might trip you up, and yet, even though there are stairs with no carpet, he says, “...I'se still climbin'.”
So if you find yourself in a situation that doesn’t look the way you planned, don’t stop persevering. Keep climbing. Keep pressing on, always looking forward to what God has in store for you, no matter how unconventional it may be.
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