You Can't Rush the River (article)

Article 12 of 26 from the Ponder This - 2005 series

March 2005 - You Can’t Rush the River by Ray Pritchard Several friends are about to make job changes and major career moves. In more than one case it means leaving this area for another part of the country; sometimes it means leaving a job with no certainty about a future paycheck. Since I’ve been in both situations myself, I know how unsettling it can be. Many years ago, my friend Jerry Hansen gave me a piece of advice for handling moments like this. The human tendency is to look at change as bad and to value stability above everything else. It’s true that moving to Montana (or wherever) is going to mean an abrupt change in scenery, and it probably also means you’re going to have to start at ground zero making new friends, finding a new church, and putting your children in a new school. That’s not easy and it won’t happen overnight. It may take months or even a year or two before you truly feel settled and “at home”� again. When I was between jobs and more or less drifting along in thin air, Jerry took me out to eat one day and told me something like this: “Ray, you need to enjoy this part of your life. If you fight what God is doing, it will just take things longer to work out. But if you relax and let God lead you, eventually you’ll look back and see God’s hand every step of the way.”� Then he gave me the punch line: “Don’t forget. It doesn’t get any better than this.”� I still smile years later when I think of those words because he was absolutely right. How many hours (days? weeks? months?) do we waste fretting over our circumstances and dreaming of better days when all our problems will be behind us? In truth, those “better days”� never really com”not perfectly, not in a fallen world where nothing works right all the time. Is there a theological truth behind this? Absolutely. If God is God, then he is just as much the God of your cloudy days as he is the God of bright sunshine. While reading my personal journal, I happened across a quotation I recorded several years ago: “You can’t rush a river. You’ve got to let it flow.”� God’s work in your life is like a river flowing steadily toward its appointed destination. Right now your “river”� may seem to have taken a detour and you may feel like trying to rush the current along. It can’t be done. The river can’t be rushed. Are you worried about your future? Fear not. Don’t rush the river. Enjoy these days as part of God’s plan for your life. Go with the flow””and soon enough God will bring you into a safe harbor. Enjoy the blessings of today and remember that everything good comes from God.