Boxes are good for everything from cereal and crackers, to tissues and televisions.  They come in all kinds of sizes to fit just about anything you might want to send or store.  People ship the strangest things sometimes.  Go online and you can get anything you want shipped to you, and it will most likely arrive in a box.  My guess is you have more than one thing in your house that is contained in a box right now.

As people we are so use to everything fitting into boxes, having a certain size and shape.  This is a great principle when it comes to shipping something, but gets us into trouble when we start applying that principle to God’s kingdom.  Why?  God doesn’t work in boxes!  He doesn’t ship things in neat packages, He doesn’t have them show up on our doorstep or in our mailbox.  His plans don’t fit the constraints of a 6 sided cube like shape we have designed.  No box can contain God.  (1 Kings 8:27 )

Then we look at God’s creation.  Have you ever seen a box in the shape of Gods image? No?  Why not?  We don’t fit into boxes either!  We were created in God’s image and that most certainly does not fit into a box. (Gen 1:27 )  Realizing this makes living the christian life much easier.  These boxes can be anything from simple things like fashion, to issues like what your gifts "should" be.  They are all boxes that man has decided make you "look like a christian".   When we stop trying to put ourselves into a man made box labeled "christian", or a box someone has labeled for us, we break down artificial man made barriers.  These barriers prevent us from allowing God to do what He wants to do in our lives.  We need to be people that let God mold us into who He desires us to be, not allowing people to force us into the shape of a box they erect for us.

Once these boxes have been put around you it can become difficult to determine what is a box and what is God molding you.  There is only one way to figure this out, and that is by going to the one who wants to mold you into His image, the one we should want to be like, Christ.  If our desire is to be like Him, we should be asking Him to help us get out of those boxes that have been falsely put around us, and look to Him for who we are to be.  By doing that we will become more Christ like, but not through man made boxes.  There is no box that is just right for us, because the image of God doesn’t fit in a box.  Where we fit best is in the hand of God, where He can mold us the way he desires.  "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." (1 Pet 5:6 )  In order for us to truly be in the hand of God we must humble ourselves, ask Him to take us out of the boxes, and trust Him because we know His plan is best. (Jer 29:11 )

When we hit our elbow, scrape our knee, or worse yet break a bone, in the moment we feel pain we think we might not bare.  Then after a few moments, several minutes, or sometimes hours, the pain passes.  Then after a few days, or weeks in some cases, the injury is healed and we are better.  Despite the discomfort we felt in the moment of the blow we ended up getting better in time.  How many times does something happen in our lives that isn’t a physical injury but an emotional injury and we forget that we will, in time, heal just as we do physically?  Sometimes in the moment of the discomfort we think that the pain will last forever, that we will never be the same, we will never heal.

However, despite the discomfort there is a source of healing for whatever discomfort we go through emotionally in our lives. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." (2 Cor 1:3-5 ) Emotional pain may not show, we can’t put a band-aid on it, stitch it, or cast it.  We can’t simply take a pill and make it go away.  It takes a little more effort then that sometimes.  We need to seek the source of the healing in a different way because it is not a physical source of healing just as the pain is not a physical source of pain.  Emotional and spiritual discomfort and pain requires an emotional and spiritual solution.  There is one source for this which will never fail us, one source that heals all these wounds, the God of all Comfort.  If we seek Christ, we can receive the comfort that overflows from Him into our lives.

Like physical wounds, emotional and spiritual wounds will take different amounts of time to heal.  We cannot expect an instant solution like a flash of lightening.  We must be consistent in our seeking, and we must also expect and be looking for what we are asking for.  Luke 11:9-10 tells us "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Lk 11:9-10 )  If we know God is the God of all comfort, and we will be given what we ask for, we know if we ask for comfort when we need it He is capable and willing to give it to us.  One cannot expect to find and receive what one is not looking and asking for.  It is by asking that we receive.  So go today, ask for the comfort and healing you seek.  It is possible to go on despite the discomfort you currently face, however the Lord intends to, and will, give you what you need to heal.  It may take time, but if you are seeking the comfort you need from the God of all comfort, it will overflow into your life just as it is promised.

When God tells us "no" or "not yet-wait" we have to remember with faith that He intends everything for our good. (Jer 29:11 )  But what about when He asks us to do something we don’t understand, to give up something we don’t want to, or to move in a direction we don’t think we are ready for?  Have you ever told God "NO not that!"?  I would be surprised if you haven’t because I know I certainly have.  When we are walking with the Lord allowing Him to mold us we sometimes discover, even in trial, that there are things that the Lord asks of us that we really don’t want to do.  Much like when a child hears their mother or father say "go clean your room" or "its time to move on", we don’t want to go the direction the Lord is sending us because we are either comfortable where we are, or we are already dealing with enough change in our life to change anything else.

Like the child who doesn’t want to clean their room because they don’t see a problem with it, when we don’t want to change something because we are comfortable with the way it is, we fail to see the wisdom in what we are being asked to do.  If a child’s room is a mess, then they are going to step on something, lose something, or fail to learn how to keep other areas of their life in order.  When the Lord is asking us to change something, we need to recognize that in His wisdom He knows it needs changing. (Job 12:13 )   Also, if something does not fit with the kind of person the Lord intends us to be, He is going to remove it.  It may be that the thing He is trying to remove is something you keep "stepping" on.  Ask yourself if what God is asking you to give up keeps getting in the way of what you ought to be doing, and if it is then that is why He is asking you to give it up.  Like the child stepping on things, removing the obstacle is the wise thing to do.  Saying "no" is only going to prolong your ability to do what you ought to be doing, keeping another area of your life out of order.

If you say it isn’t an issue of comfort, but an issue of being overwhelmed with to much change already, it really is, at its core, still an issue of comfort.  When things in life are in turmoil, when something has rocked our life, we will grab onto what is familiar in an attempt to steady our feet.  We do this so that we can feel like not everything is spinning out of control, not everything has changed, and something is right.  Then we are asked by God to change something and we say "NO I can’t right now!" because we think enough has changed already, it can wait.  Like the parent who says to a child "its time to move on", God is letting you know it is OK to hold onto something different rather then that familiar thing that He is telling us is not like Him.  In trial God is going to mold us, we need to be willing to allow Him to do so.  When He asks us to give up something, it is because it is not like Him, not because He doesn’t want us to have something steady in our lives.  If you feel like you need that steady place to stand so you can’t give up what God is asking you to give up, know you can stand strong in Him. (Ps 61:3 , Pr 18:10 )  Even in trial God is going to ask us to move on, to keeping changing, to continue to be willing to stay on His Anvil in the molding process.

Is there anything in your life that you have said to God "NO not that!" about?  Ask yourself "why?".  Is it because you are comfortable with the way things are?  Is it because you think you need it to steady your life?  Is it becuase you don’t think in trial you can do it and still stand strong?  Is it getting in the way of what you ought to be doing?  Ask the Lord to give you the faith to remember that He knows what He is doing, and the courage and strength to say yes.

"I messed up again!"  How many times have you uttered those words?  If those words have crossed your lips or your mind, I am sure if you are like me, it has happened more times then you care to think about.  There are those times we say "stop even thinking about it" or "your attitude is going to get you in trouble" or "if you don’t get yourself out of this situation you are going to regret it later".  None of us are capable of keeping ourselves free of wrongdoing on our own.  Unfortunately we all know that.  Sometimes we hate to admit it, but we realize that we can’t cleanse ourselves after we mess up.

We know God cannot stand the sight of sin.  In the moment Christ died on the cross He became sin for us, separated from God because God could not stand to be a part of sin. (Mk 15:34 , Matt 27:46 )   So then what confidence do we have that He is going to forgive us once again when we mess up?  Mercy.  Hebrews 4:15-16 says "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Heb 4:15-16 NIV )  If we are confident in God’s promises, and willing to remain on His Anvil, then we know He is going to fulfill His promise to give us mercy and grace when we mess up.

When God molds us part of the process is removing things He doesn’t like looking at in our lives.  If we believe that, then we need to go to Him and say "I messed up again!"  when we do. Why?  Because like us, He understands what being tempted is, but unlike us, He is without sin.  He is capable of helping us in our time of need, removing from us that burden, and giving us the mercy we seek.  Then, once we receive that mercy, we need to ask Him to keep molding us into the person He desires for us to be, remembering that we need Him to accomplish that task in our lives.  Mercy is often followed by a lesson.  It is in the lesson that we learn how to be the person God desires us to be.  Once we have gone to the Lord and cried out "I messed up again" and received His mercy, we need to be people listening for the lesson by ensuring we are in prayer.

If this is the first time you have ever gone to God and said "I messed up", or if you are thinking about it, you can read about the first time I did the very same thing at Reaching Home Plate Safe .

Doesn’t it seem our life is full of questions we don’t get answers for?  Questions for which we get answers we don’t like?  It sometimes seems like we get more answers we don’t like then answers we do.  We ask and ask and ask but the answer never changes.  My 8 year old will ask for something, get a no, and ask again.  Even after we tell him "the answer is not going to change" he still sometimes asks again.  Then there are the times we tell him "wait not now".  He hasn’t yet learned the patience to just wait, so he wants to know exactly when, or he asks "is it later yet?" to try and speed things along.  Though this is highly bothersome when the question has to deal with an 8 year old getting something, or when we are leaving to go somewhere, the only real consequence it might have is the one his parents are going to give him for not stopping.

When it comes to more serious issues, or bigger questions in life, not being willing to live with the answer God has given us can lead to more serious consequences.  When we have been given an answer from God that we are not particularly fond of we have a choice to make.  We can behave like a child who asks again and again in hopes of changing an answer that won’t change, or understand that God knows what He is doing.  Jeremiah 29:11 says "’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.’" (Jer 29:11 NIV )  If God knows the plan, and that plan is designed to prosper us, then we should trust that plan.  Any answer He gives us is going to be in line with the plan He has.  It may not be one we understand, but it is one we can know is for our benefit.  The Lord is not going to harm us, so His decision is certainly not going to do so either.

Another answer we get is to wait.  Wait, not yet.  Should we be like the child who constantly asks and never has patience while waiting?  Does the Lord need reminding that He said "wait, not now"?  To say it sounds ridiculous, that the Lord needs reminding, but we sometimes act like we think its true.  Like the child who says to his parents "is it later yet?", we feel we need to tell God "I’ve been waiting long enough–get to it already".  Maybe not in those words, but in that attitude.  Yet it is better that we wait quietly, seeking Him, knowing the Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him.  Lamentations 3:25-26:

"The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD."   (Lam 3:25-26 NIV )

If there is an answer you have gotten from the Lord that you don’t like, remember, He has plans to prosper you.  He is not going to harm you.  If the answer was no, remember that even if you don’t understand the plan, it is a plan that is meant for your good.  If it was a "wait", seek the Lord in the waiting.  It is in the seeking that we discover how we need to be molded so that He can change the "wait not yet" to a "yes".  When we allow God to continue to mold us despite the fact that we get answers we don’t like, we show Him that we trust Him, and that we have faith in His promises.