Steven Furtick - Finding Strength In What's Missing
This is an excerpt from: Making Peace With Missing Pieces
You might have to move forward in this season of your life without preparation, and you might have to figure it out as you go. You might have to read books at night. You might have to read books, period. You might have to ask people. You might have to get honest and say to somebody, "Hey, man. I have to be honest with you. I don't know anything about managing money. I'm driving this because I'm so stupid that I signed up for 75,000 percent interest". (By the way, I'm going to bring Dave Ramsey in a couple of weeks to help you all with all that. All right? So that'll be good.) You might have to get honest and say, "You know what? I'm not prepared for this. I don't have this right now".
Just because you don't know it right now doesn't mean you can't grow in it. You can. The Devil is a liar. And don't think you need to know everything. When Moses said, "Tell me who you are," do you know what God told him? "I Am". I love the Lord. "Can you be more specific"? "Nope, because in every situation I put you in that is too big for you, you are going to see another dimension of who I am. I am God. I'm too big for your box. I am healer. I am resurrection. I am water. I am the Great I Am". The Great I Am is bigger than all your little "I'm nots". That's why I came into his presence today, and that's why when some people are standing there, looking at the song, I'm letting it wash over me. I need those words from God. I need it spoken, it sung over me. I need it in my heart, because, honestly, I'm bad at words. Not the ones I say. I'm good at those…most of the time. I'm bad at the ones I say to myself. I'm stepping into Moses' shoes today. I'm asking you to do the same.
What are you not, and what does what you're not have to do with who God is? I got to meet somebody so inspirational the other day who was blind shortly after birth and has been blind all his life. He was saying how his mom, meaning well, went around to all of these different churches to get him healed. He said up until about age 9, he went along with it. They would put oil on his eyes, and he said it would just burn. It didn't get any better. I'm not saying God can't heal, and I'm not saying any of this is bad, but this was his story. I was listening to it, and I thought, "This is crazy". He finally said to his mom… I think he was about Abbey's age, 9 or 10, if I remember correctly. One night, his mom was crying and praying. "God, please heal my boy. Heal my boy. Heal my boy".
That's a good thing for a mom to pray. Who wouldn't pray that? You know, I'm not saying God causes this or God causes that. But the Lord said, "You always identify me by what I give you, and sometimes I want you to know me in what I didn't give you". "Is it not I"? He said, "I heard my mom crying, and I finally went in and said, 'Mom, you are giving me a headache you're crying so much. Did you ever think maybe God made me this way for a reason and he has something for me to do?'" Then a few minutes later, he was telling me about songs he wrote, like "Love's in Need of Love Today" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You" and "Superstition". It was Stevie Wonder, y'all. Stevie Wonder said that. He said, "Mom, did you ever think maybe God has something for me to do just like I am"?
I'm thinking Stevie was right. I think how horrible it would be if those songs didn't exist because he didn't have his sight. You probably won't ever write a song as good as Stevie. In fact, I can say this: you will never write a song as good as Stevie, and neither will I. But something in you will go unsung if what is in your hand goes unstretched. When Moses said, "I have never… I've never been good at this". That was the fourth one. It was a limitation, and God got angry. "You think I don't know that about you? You think I put you in a sky without wings? I gave you what I wanted you to have. Since you're so insistent on being insecure, since you don't believe me about all this…"
Now, Moses has already seen a lot. He turned his staff into a snake. He still isn't convinced. He put his hand in his cloak. It came out leprous. "Agh"! He put it back in. It came out healed. That's crazy. But he still doesn't want to go, and it comes out in this moment. "Send someone else. Not me, God. Not me". It's a war of words. The Lord keeps speaking over you, not only that you're going to make it. He keeps telling you you're doing better than you think you are, and you won't believe him. He keeps telling you, "Put it in my hands; I'll deal with it," and you won't believe him. It's a war of words. Which one will win? So, we're standing in this scene with Moses and his shoes, and the Lord told me to ask you: Are you ready to make peace with the way things are, believing that God can use it somehow for his glory, or are you going to let one missing piece define the rest of your life?
One thing we learn about from a puzzle is that something can be in pieces on purpose. If God is only giving you one thing at a time, do one thing at a time. We just released an album on Friday. (Another shameless plug. I love the album.) We wrote it one song at a time, one verse at a time, one word, one syllable, one note at a time. That's how it works. You are not supposed to know where God is going to have you in 20 years. It's a five-letter word. It's called faith. God said, "I'm going to send Aaron to help you. I'm going to send somebody to help you". I love it, because I read Moses saying, "Send somebody else," and God was like, "Okay. I'll send your brother". "I will send a partner into your life for the pieces you don't have. I will send people into your life who have the pieces you don't have, but you have to receive this word".
God, make me more like the moon. Let me hang where you told me to hang. God, make me more like the birds who soar where they're supposed to soar. God, if it isn't too much to ask, make me like a bean sprout that knows how to come forth when you call it. God, make me more like Jesus who is the image of God, who knew that even in his life, even in his human existence, when he laid aside his privilege as God and took on flesh, the Word incarnate, to be with you to fulfill the Great I Am. God said, "Whatever you're not, I am. Whatever you don't, I do". You keep saying, "I don't". God says, "I do". This is a weird wedding ceremony. "I don't". "I do". "I don't". "I do". "I don't think I can make it". "I do think you can make it". "I don't know what to do". "I do know what to do". "I don't know how it's going to happen". "I do know how it's going to happen".
All I'm trying to say is… Who made your mouth? Why do you keep saying stuff that goes against what the one who made you spoke over you? Why would you line up against yourself? It's a war of words, and I'm on the winning side, because the final word over my life was spoken before my first breath was breathed. I said, the final word over my life… God has the big picture, and the final word over my life is spoken, and all of his promises are yes and amen. Now stand up and lift your hands right where you are. This is a God moment. This is a God word. This is a God thing. This is a God intersection. This is a burning bush. This is holy ground. This is time for you to decide if you are going to make peace with the missing pieces. Who didn't love you? I'm sorry they didn't love you, but that doesn't get to stop you. I'm sorry they left you, but God didn't. I'm sorry that it hurts, but he's a healer. I'm sorry you're broken, but there is a balm in Gilead.
When all we see is broken pieces, God sees the big picture. What is that in your hand? "See, I have this stick. I have this situation. I made this mistake. I have these doubts". The Lord says, "If you want to see what my hand can do, I want you to stop speaking against what I put in your hand". We're going to work on this. We're going to work this word deeper and deeper into our hearts. We're going to work on this, because it's a war. You have no peace in your heart. You keep saying, "When this happens, that happens, if this didn't happen, if they come, when they acknowledge, when they see, when I get this…" The Lord says, "I want you to be at peace right now. I know there are some things you don't know, and I know there are some questions you have". You know how we get there and say, "Oh, when I get to God, I'm going to ask him a bunch of stuff". You're not going to ask God anything except, "Why did I let the Devil beat me up so badly when you're this big"? "Who are you"?
Now lift your hands again. I know you didn't keep them up that whole time. Show me who you are, God. Show me who I am. I'm not waiting on something else, because that would be crazy for me to wait to have peace until there's peace in the Middle East, peace in other parts of the world. No, God. Let it begin in my heart. I thank you for how you made me. Would you say that out loud? "Thank you for how you made me, missing pieces and all". Have you ever thought those missing pieces were a space for God to fill? Maybe it is.