Under Construction

There is one thing true about highways in Oklahoma - they are always under construction.  Drive down any highway at any time of the day or night and you will see orange cones and signs indicating that your expected travel time to your intended destination is going to be delayed. I absolutely love the way God takes something so simple and totally unrelated and makes it applicable to what is going on in my life right now because right now I am 'Under Construction'.  I am in the process of being 'put together' by God to be used for His glory. 

Twenty-four years ago I accepted Jesus Christ as my person Lord and Savior.  But at the age of twelve I did not fully understand what it meant for Him to be Lord of my life.  In order for me to understand this concept and benefit from the blessings that come from being a child of God, I had to be placed under construction.  You see, I had cracks and holes, bumps and bruises.  In other words, a lot of work needed to be done.  I discovered this by reading the Word of God.  It has a way of revealing the things inside of you that are not like Christ.  There is a funny thing about construction that I discovered.  Construction is not only the process of being put together but it is also the process of being taken apart.  I sat in my car and watched the workers as I traveled to Dallas one day.  One group of men had a machine and that machine's job was to pound the current pavement and break it up.  Then there was another machine that came behind that machine and removed all the broken up pieces. Once the pieces were removed a truck came in to fill the hole and then another machine that smoothed out the pavement.  Now there are times when I have seen the workers come in and simply pour new concrete over the crack and the holes, the bumps and the bruises but when this happens not too much time passes when I see them coming back and starting the process all over, doing it correctly this time. 

There have been times in my life when I have tried to take the easy way out, doing the bare minimum to get by, putting on a top coat of going to church, reading my Bible every now and then, listening to gospel music, but not doing enough to sustain me when real adversity strikes.  I had chosen to ignore the urgings of the Holy Spirit when He exposed something in me that needed to be removed or changed.  It is when real adversity strikes that I recognize my need to be in the hands of the Master, being shaped into the vessel that He wants me to be. You see, God has to take the old and replace it with the new.  He has to take my unforgiveness and replace it with forgiveness.  Hate with love. Discord with peace. And those are just a few of the things God had to change in me. It's a type of renovation that only God can complete.  Psalms 40:2-3 says it best.  'He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. 

God wants to establish you so that you are prepared to do His work.  In order for this to happen He has to place you under construction.  This construction may cause a delay in your arrival at your set destination but oh what a glorious day it will be when He completes His process and we are all that God desires us to be.  Remember this one thing...'He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 What the Lord has started, He will finish! 

Dear Lord,

I want to thank you right now for never taking your hand off me, for always working to transform me into the person you want me to be so that I may be used for your purpose.  I thank you for the power of Your Word, the power that it has to expose those things in me that are not like You.  I submit myself to You.  Mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting yielded and still.  In Jesus' Wonderful Name I pray Amen.