Feeling and thinking in Psalm 20: What God gives versus what you thought you wanted.
7 Some nations boast of their chariots and horses,
but we boast in the name of the Lord our God.
4 May he grant your heart’s desires
and make all your plans succeed.
5c May the Lord answer all your prayers.
Victory obviously comes to the guy with the biggest guns, or the largest army or the stealthiest planes. If we are talking about war machines, then big deterrents are the name of the game. The leader with the biggest club and the biggest guy to wield said club is obviously going to win.
So Lord, give me please a very very big club and a very very very big warrior to swing it at the baddies.
We reopened a Christian bookstore/coffee shop/post office/meeting place on the edge of the city of Leuven, Belgium. The store is part of a registered charity. So the name of the game is meet your expenses and don’t lose money. Create cash flow and income with sales to support the cause. That’s what charities are supposed to do. Charities are allowed to pay workers and also use volunteers.
Often a goal of a charity is to attract talented, experienced, knowledgeable people who will donate their time and talent to further the running of the store to create cash flow and income to support the charity’s cause.
So we pray to the Lord to send workers. I need to first make it very clear that we with this vision are not talented or experienced in books, stores, coffee, post, or generating cash flow and income to support a cause. In fact we have a lifelong track record of failing in nearly all the goals of the store.
Why has God called failures to this task? Did God call us? It sure seems like it. Ask anyone who knows us and the project and you will probably hear that they think God has called us to this task.
Now is the time to laugh. We need “chariots and horses” to run a successful business. We need management experience and business knowledge. We have nearly none. Zilch. Zero. Nada.
Our team. We love our team. God continually sends us people who want to help us. It is a miracle. We are thankful. What did God send us? Did God send us people who would be able to meet the requirements of the job?
Belgians? Business? Computers? Organised? Food industry restaurant experience? Language? Logistics? Procurement? Administration? Detail minded? Very focused on excellence? Strong, healthy, reliable, sharp, theologically astute, believers, evangelists?
Where are the horses and chariots?
What God has given us are people to love, people to appreciate, willing, faithful, loving workers. We are a family of ragtag “failures” who are unhealthy, inexperienced, memories like a sieve, unqualified, not yet followers of Jesus, people with serious problems--and God is making us a team.
We don’t need what we think we need. We only need God. Lord, send us more reasons to trust you. Is that our prayer? Should it be? I am begging God for a publishing team to get a book published. There are several other potential authors who need to get their books published too.
We need team members who can make Het Goede Boek a viable Christian publishing house. I am absolutely convinced that this is the direction God wants to and needs to bring us as a charity and a team. So where are the horses and chariots? We are not going to trust in those. Stop thinking that God is going to give us the winning odds. He gives us Himself. We need nothing more. Trust Him. Just trust Him. He can make authors and books from thin air if He wants to. Just watch.
RAFFAELLO (Raphael) March 28 or April 6, 1483 – April 6, 1520)
Sanzio Decoration of the Loggetta Fresco Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican
For all the duidelijkheid I actually think the team is more like David's mighty men.
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