Tuesday, August 27, 2002
"And now, in the center ring, high above the big top..." Or something like that. When we took our kids to the circus, that was how the ringmaster would introduce those stars of the big show, those death-defying artists on the high trapeze. They're amazing! I mean, they leap with perfect poise and grace from one trapeze to another until they end up safe on that platform across the arena. Now, I can imagine someone with lots of practice eventually getting used to hanging onto a trapeze. And maybe even then feeling relatively secure as soon as they reach that next bar. But it's that time between trapezes that would bother me - that does bother me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Living Between Trapezes."
Now, that may be where you're living right now. One phase of your life is behind you; you're counting on a new one ahead. But right now you're in one of life's great "in between" times. So were the people God was advising in our word for today from the Word of God beginning in Jeremiah 29:5.
The Jews are in a temporary spot between two permanent spots. They started in their homeland of Israel. They'll end up back in Israel, but right now they are experiencing the "in between" of captivity in Babylon. And God gives His instructions for people who are hanging there between trapezes. Listen. "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
The message to God's ancient people may be, in essence, what He wants to say to you today. When you're in between, don't hold back. Live as if you'll be there your whole life. In the words of missionary martyr Jim Elliott, "Wherever you are, be all there." God says, "Build... settle... plant... increase... work for the good of that place."
You may be saying, "But, Lord, this isn't where I want to be. I just want to get by until we get to our destination." Listen to this statement from verse 11 in the same chapter, Jeremiah 29. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" It seems that God's good plans for tomorrow come out of your living wholeheartedly today.
You may very well not be where you hope you'll end up. You're between jobs or in one that's just a stopgap. Maybe you're single hoping to be married, you're living in a temporary situation or you're waiting for some breakthrough. Like the Jews of old, you're in an "in between" place. But also like them, God expects you to build there, to plant, to increase, to improve it.
And as you do, you give God the attitude He can use to bring you to His very best. If you're in between trapezes right now, remember - this is a terrible place to lose your concentration. Bloom where you're planted. Be all you can be right where you are. Make the greatest possible difference you can there. It's the best way to end up safely at the destination that you want so much.