Proverbs 3:5–6 (CSB)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.
Some years ago, I was really into duck hunting. During duck season, you'd find me knee-deep in freezing water, camouflaged from head to toe, scanning the skies for waterfowl. I was living my own man-versus-wild. Quite often, I would see beavers during my hunts. They were never really a problem; they were just picturesque additions to my outdoor adventure until one fateful evening.
As the sun was setting, I was packing up my decoys and getting ready to head for the house. That's when I noticed a beaver swimming near me. This was not unusual because they would often swim around, slapping the water with their tails, trying to scare me off. Until this time.
Just as I was putting one of the decoys in my bag, I heard a large splash right behind me. Spinning around. I saw what seemed like a rabid beaver charging at me, bearing down on my backside. With my adrenaline rushing, I started spinning in circles to fight off the beaver, but to my surprise, he seemed to match my every move. We were both spinning like a washing machine stuck on the spin cycle.
With my heart rate escalating, I could tell the beaver was closing in fast. We were about to go hands-to-paw when suddenly I realized I was running from, wait for it...my own decoy! I had gotten tangled in my decoy's string, and every time I turned around, I was reeling it closer and closer. Talk about being your own worst enemy!
Ever had one of those moments where you felt ridiculously silly? Yeah, me neither.
But don't we all, at one time or another, end up running from an imaginary threat because we don't stop and get the right perspective? Sometimes we even run from our Kingdom purpose because, when we realize where God is leading us, we totally freak out and run the other way.
Jonah is a great example of this. God's call was for him to go to Nineveh and preach God's message to them. He hated the Ninevites and wanted nothing more than for them to stay far away from God's grace. So what does he do? He hops on a ship headed in the opposite direction from Nineveh. What does God do? Sends a huge storm that gets everyone's attention on the ship. Now that must have been frightening! Jonah informs the other sailors that the storm is his fault and tells them to throw him overboard. When they do, Jonah ends up in something even more terrifying: the belly of a big fish.
The point is that running from God's Kingdom purpose for your life can land you in some pretty stinky situations. And we may honestly find these situations much scarier than what we initially ran from. So the next time you feel the urge to pull a Jonah, take a deep breath, look again, and trust that God's Kingdom purpose, as frightening as it may seem, it is the right direction for your life because any other way you turn, you may be wrapping yourself in the cords of God's discipline.
So as we consider my misadventures with an imaginary rabid beaver, let's not overlook the truth beneath the comedy. Our lives can often be like a spin dance with a duck decoy when we let fear and misunderstanding guide our decisions. We might feel like Jonah and want to jump on the first ship headed in the opposite direction from God's calling, only to find ourselves in a bigger mess. Keep in mind that even when God's purpose seems overwhelming, it's because He wants to make sure you know He is doing the work through you. God will rarely call you to something you're capable of doing and will often lead you to do something beyond your natural capability. So don't let fear chase you into a spin cycle. Slow down, get perspective on who God is and how He is empowering everything, trust His Kingdom purpose, and allow Him to untangle any chords of confusion and fear. When you live under His Kingdom rule, you're in the safest hands, and there is no risk of a beaver bite in sight!