Sun Stand Still

I used to be an avid reader. That is, until I went to college and was required to read insanely large and mostly boring textbooks. After 4 years of required reading, I decided I was ready for a well-deserved break, the only problem is that break lasted for a solid 12 years! :) Last year that all changed and I started making up for lost time…and catching up on an incredibly long list of books that I missed throughout the years. One of those books was Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick. It’s based on the moment in Joshua 10 when Joshua asks the Lord for the sun to stand still so that they could defeat their enemies.

At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
   and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
   until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.

-Joshua 10:12-14 ESV

In Sun Stand Still, Furtick addresses just how big God is and how small we’ve made him out to be…

"If you’re not daring to believe God for the impossible, you’re sleeping through some of the best parts of your Christian life. And further still: if the size of your vision for your life isn’t intimidating to you, there’s a good chance it’s insulting to God."

"If we have the audacity to ask, God has the ability to perform."

I’ve spent the majority of my life praying something along the lines of this: “God, you created me, you know me better than I know myself, so I trust whatever plans you have for my life and I’ll be grateful for them.” I mean, that doesn’t sound like a terrible prayer, right? I’ve come to realize it’s pretty pathetic. The best way to describe it is to imagine a child being asked by their parents what they want for Christmas. Can you imagine that child, every year, all of their life saying, “You gave birth to me so I trust that you know what I want and I’ll be happy with whatever you give me.” Honestly, I think that would be exasperating. As a parent, you want to give your child a gift that causes a reaction of such intense joy and enthusiasm! Yes, you wouldn’t give your child a gift that wasn’t good for them or that could cause them harm, but you take great delight in giving your child something that they’ve dreamed of!

As another one of my favorite author’s, Mark Batterson, says, “God doesn’t answer 100% of the prayers you don’t pray.” In so many ways my life had become a hamster wheel of repetition. Not terrible, but not great, but in all honesty, it’s no wonder! I wasn’t asking, so I wasn’t receiving. I wasn’t believing for anything beyond what was presently in front of me.

I think at some point we all stop dreaming impossible dreams. Or for some of us, maybe we never started. And I would put my money on the fact that at the root of it all is one nasty 4-letter word: FEAR. We’re afraid of disappointment. We’re afraid of wanting something and not getting it. We’re afraid we’re going to ask for the Star Wars Death Star for Christmas and get a generic spaceship instead.

And truth is, there may have been those experiences in your past. You grew up in a childhood full of disappointments. You dreamed of a certain job, only to get the call that they had chosen someone else. You desperately wanted a child and after numerous doctor’s appointments and treatments, still left with empty arms. I wish I could offer confidence that every dream you have you will get, but it’s not quite that simple. I believe every desire you have will be fulfilled, but I also believe it may not look the way you imagined (that’s for another post altogether :)). There may be a multitude of disappointment and heartache along the way, but as cruel as this may sound in the moment of the pain, I believe one of the ways God loves us most is through disappointment. I absolutely believe it breaks his heart when our heart breaks, but He loves us enough to allow us to go through the pain because he knows where it will lead us if we’ll let Him use it.

"God has to work in us before he can work through us."

"God gives people the exact experiences he wants them to have in order to shape the specific destiny he’s designed for them."

"When God removes something from our lives, it’s not because he’s trying to take away something good. It’s because he’s trying to make room for something better." (so true!!)

So I just share all of this to say… Ask. Dream. Believe.

Don’t let fear win, hold onto audacious faith instead! Believe in a God who does impossible things - not just then. Not just for Joshua…but for YOU.

"Dream God-worthy dreams. Pray faith-fueled prayers. Live a life that can be explained only by the existence of a God who is infinitely great."