{"id":206,"date":"2007-10-23T01:01:37","date_gmt":"2007-10-23T01:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2007\/10\/one-reason-why-gods-will-is-enigmatic.html"},"modified":"2007-10-23T01:01:37","modified_gmt":"2007-10-23T01:01:37","slug":"one-reason-why-gods-will-is-enigmatic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/10\/one-reason-why-gods-will-is-enigmatic.html","title":{"rendered":"One Reason Why God\u2019s Will is Enigmatic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 11 of series: Why Move? Stewardship, Wineskins, and the Enigmatic Will of God
\n<\/em>Permalink for this post<\/a> \/ Permalink for this series<\/a><\/p>\n

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To read this series, Why Move? Stewardship, Wineskins, and the Enigmatic Will of God<\/em>, from the beginning, click here. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In February 2007, I believed I had discerned part of God’s will for me. I knew I was to use well the gifts He had given me for the sake of His kingdom. I believed this would involve some changes in my professional life, so that I could devote more of my time to writing and leadership and less of my time to some of the administrative tasks that are required of many pastors. I also felt sure that God wanted me to be open to Him in a new way, and this way included letting go of the “wineskins” of my ministry at Irvine Presbyterian Church. I still had high hopes that the “wineskins” of my job description at church could be renewed so that I might stay there as pastor. But by late February I was willing as never before to admit that God might have other plans for my life. Willing, yes. Eager, hardly. I loved my church family. And I loved how much my own family felt at home in Irvine Presbyterian Church.
\nThe process of discerning the enigmatic will of God for my vocational life was, as I’ve mentioned previously in this series, a difficult one. It took five months for my wife and me to move from a place of miniscule openness to Laity Lodge to the conviction that this was where we should invest our lives. I wish I could tell you that I spent these five months in faithful, peaceful, trusting prayer. There were some moments like that. But I must confess that a good chunk of those five months was filled with too much worry and too many sleepless nights. When I thought about leaving Irvine and moving to Texas, I did feel considerable excitement about Laity Lodge and its manifold ministries. But counterbalancing that excitement was lots of fear: fear about what life would be like so far from the home my family and I had known for sixteen years, fear about leaving a parish ministry, fear about taking my children away from great friends and a fantastic youth group, etc. etc. Time and again I offered those fears to the Lord, and slowly, very slowly, I began to sense His peace.
\nOne can speculate about why it too so long for my wife and me, with thoughtful input from our children, to decide to move to Texas and join the Laity Lodge team. It’s possible that God had made His will clear all along, and that we were unwilling to see it. It’s also possible that God wasn’t rushing us along because He was interested in more than simply getting us to do what He wanted. I wouldn’t be surprised if both options were true, to an extent. I am sure my own resistance to God’s will made it hard for me to discover it. Yet I am also convinced that God was taking time to with us because He was concerned, not just to get us to Laity Lodge, but also to help us grow as His disciples in the process.
\n\"butt-who-can-you-trust\"<\/a>For me, the greatest growth came in my willingness to trust God. You might think that because I have trusted Christ as my Lord and Savior for over forty years, and because I have been a pastor for almost twenty years, I might have worked out my trust issues before. In some ways and some contexts I had done this. But my relationship with God has always involved ongoing growth in trust as I give over to the Lord more and more of myself and my life. From February 2007 until late July, when Linda and I decided to move to Texas, I had to surrender even more of myself than I ever had before.
\nIronically, or perhaps providentially, one of the most significant factors in my learning to trust God more was a book called Who Can You Trust?<\/a><\/em> Though it dealt as much with trust in human relationships as with trust in our relationship with God, this book challenged and encouraged me to rely upon God in a new way. Now the ironic or providential part of this story is the fact that this book was written by Howard E. Butt, Jr., the founder of Laity Lodge. His wisdom and openness helped me to trust the Lord in new ways, which in turn helped me to give up the security of my life in Irvine and move to Texas to join the team at Laity Lodge. I’m quite positive that Howard Butt didn’t write Who Can You Trust?<\/em> as a staff recruiting tool for Laity Lodge. But, in a strange way, that’s exactly what it became in my life. More importantly, it helped me to deeper with the Lord. Sometimes God’s ways are both enigmatic and delightful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 11 of series: Why Move? Stewardship, Wineskins, and the Enigmatic Will of God Permalink for this post \/ Permalink for this series To read this series, Why Move? Stewardship, Wineskins, and the Enigmatic Will of God, from the beginning, click here. In February 2007, I believed I had discerned part of God’s will for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-why-move"],"yoast_head":"\nOne Reason Why God\u2019s Will is Enigmatic - Mark D. 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Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}