Psalm 139:16 "Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be."
A half job. You know what that is, right? In my house, it's my pet-name for jobs that get started and never finished or jobs that just don't get done thoroughly. You know the kind. When your kid's job is to do the dishes and you go to inspect the job, only to find the dishes done but the sink not cleaned out. Or what about when your husband so kindly hangs a picture on the wall for you, but the hammer and tools sit out on the counter for days? To be completely fair, perhaps I am the queen of half jobs in our house. I love to start scrapbooking projects, but it takes me days to finish them or clean up after them. Perhaps the worst one is to buy all the components needed to start a job but never actually do it. Yes, half jobs are all over the place. At one point and time, everyone in our house has been called Mr. or Mrs. (or Master or Little Miss) Half Job.
As I was reading and studying earlier this week, I came across Psalm 139:16, the verse to memorize for the week. It says God saw us before we born - when our body was still unformed. He knows our every move before we even take it. I'm also reminded of the verse in Philippians 1:6 where Paul says, "He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."
Then the thought hit me. God is not a God of half-jobs.
When God starts to work in your life, when He leads you down a path, He doesn't give up. He doesn't get distracted by other things and forget about the task He started. No, He starts it in us, and we can be assured He's going to finish it. God is not going to lead us in one direction and then drop kick us to the other end of the field to fend for ourselves.
You know, I really needed to be reminded of this fact. Sure, I knew that He never leaves us or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5.) Sometimes it's easy to get discouraged when God leads you down a path but doesn't seem to show you the immediate next step. But as my pastor said on Sunday morning, that's what faith is all about. If the Holy Spirit has started a work in you, leading you in a certain direction, He doesn't have to show you the big roadmap of how you're going to get to your end destination. We just have to have the faith that if He started it, He's got each step of the way planned out for us, just like the verse for this week says.
I am so thankful my God is not a God of half jobs. I'm grateful He hasn't given up on me and moved on to bigger and better projects. No, He ordained my days and wrote them down before I ever was born. God, thank you for this reminder, and thank you for your persistence in pursuing me and leading me.
---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com