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 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.

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.

As humans we always want to plan, we want to have it all together, we want to say our future is all tucked in and ready to go.  We make plans, we chart our course, we put away money, we have short term and long term goals, calendars, and all kinds of reminder systems.  Then something comes along to change that.  What? This could be a small bump in the path or a long detour in the roadway.  Somehow we always react with “That wasn’t in the plan”.  God always knew it was coming.  It is no surprise to God that something different happened then what we expected.  Now He is about to use this detour, or bump, to shape us into the person He wants us to be.

God was fully aware of what was about to come in our life, and He intends it for our good and to prosper us.  Jeremiah 29:11 makes that very promise to us.  “‘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)  God not only knew what was coming (Job 23:10), He is going to use it for our benefit.  That benefit may not always be the easiest to see in the midst the circumstance, as a matter of fact I will admit it is often impossible to see, but it is there.  God promised us the benefit is there.  I trust His promises.

In the midst of the trial, the bump, the detour in our plan, we need to be looking to what God is doing.  Knowing that He has made a promise to prosper us and give us a hope and a future, to mold us and refine us, allows us to focus on Him rather then the circumstance.  Though that benefit may not be immediately obvious to our human eyes, we can ask the Lord to help us focus on His work in us, rather than the temporary situation around us.  He knew the bump, the detour, the change in plans was coming, so we can trust that He is going to fulfill His promise once again, as He always has.