Staying With God in the Middle

What happens after the excitement of God's call wears off—and you're still there?

Recently, someone asked me about a question in Soul Weathered.

It comes out of one of the devotions dealing with staying with God when He calls us into something. The question was:

How do you stay present with God in the middle of it?

He wanted to know what I meant by that.

I've been thinking about the question again, because I know exactly why I wrote it.

There have been things in my life that I believed God called me to do. They began with excitement. Vision. Zeal. Passion. Intentionality.

I could see where I thought we were going.

And I started.

But then came the middle.

The Middle Is Different

The middle doesn't always look anything like the beginning.

The initial excitement is gone.

The vision isn't new anymore.

There may not be obvious progress.

People who seemed interested in the beginning may no longer seem interested.

And I've found myself looking around.

Is this having any impact?

Does anybody else care about this?

Why does it feel like I'm the only one advancing this mission?

Did I hear God correctly?

And if I'm being truthful, sometimes I've looked for something else—something that seemed to have more energy around it, something people responded to, something that made me feel like I was accomplishing something.

I've done that in ministry.

I've felt it while writing Soul Weathered.

I've felt it with New Wilderness.

There are times I've wanted to quit and do something completely different.

And there are things over the years that I probably did quit—or changed—because I stopped looking primarily at God and started looking around me for evidence that what I was doing mattered.

That's what I mean by staying present with God in the middle.

I Think About Moses

Moses had about as dramatic a calling as you could imagine.

A burning bush.

The voice of God.

A specific mission.

“So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”—Exodus 3:10

Moses didn't exactly jump at the opportunity.

He questioned God. He objected. He told God why he wasn't the right man. He tried to get out of it.

But eventually, Moses went.

And then he watched God move.

The plagues came upon Egypt.

God demonstrated His power again and again.

Pharaoh finally released Israel.

They left Egypt.

Then they found themselves trapped between Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea.

Imagine being Moses in that moment.

You've followed God.

You've led these people out.

And now you're standing at the edge of the sea with an army coming up behind you.

The people immediately turn on Moses:

“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?”—Exodus 14:11

This is the man God called to lead them to freedom, and now the people he's leading are asking why he brought them out there to die.

Then God opens the sea.

They cross.

Another unmistakable intervention of God.

Progress.

Confirmation.

God is with us.

But that still wasn't the end.

There was a wilderness ahead.

Forty Years in the Middle

The journey became something much longer and harder than Moses could possibly have imagined when he stood before that burning bush.

There were hungry people.

Thirsty people.

Angry people.

Frightened people.

Rebellious people.

People questioning Moses.

People questioning God.

At one point Moses cries out:

“What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”—Exodus 17:4

I understand something about that question.

Not Moses' circumstances, obviously.

But the feeling behind it.

God, I didn't think this was what I was signing up for.

What fascinates me is that Moses continued.

He didn't continue perfectly. Scripture doesn't hide his anger, frustration, failures or exhaustion.

But Moses stayed with God.

And maybe that's the part I've missed at times.

The Calling Was Never Supposed to Replace God

It's possible to become so focused on accomplishing something for God that the thing itself becomes what we're watching.

Is it growing?

Is it succeeding?

Are people responding?

Am I being recognized?

Is there momentum?

Is there fruit?

Those aren't necessarily bad questions.

But they can become dangerous measurements of whether God is still with us.

Because sometimes there isn't a Red Sea opening.

Sometimes there isn't a burning bush.

Sometimes there's just Tuesday.

And you're still in the wilderness doing the thing you believe God asked you to do.

That's where the deeper question becomes:

Can I remain with God when I cannot see what He is accomplishing?

Scripture says:

“Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”—James 4:8

Maybe that's how we stay in the middle.

We draw near.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Staying Is a Relationship

How do we please God?

We love Him back.

We join Him in His work.

We learn His heart.

We listen.

We talk.

We walk with Him.

And we stay together.

That's different from simply completing an assignment.

If God calls me into something, the mission isn't supposed to become a place where I eventually leave Him behind while I try to make the mission succeed.

He's the reason I'm there.

The work matters.

The calling matters.

The people matter.

But so does what is happening between God and me while we're doing it together.

Jesus said:

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.”—John 15:4

There it is.

Remain.

Maybe that's the word I've been looking for.

Not achieve.

Not impress.

Not prove.

Not grow something big enough that everybody notices.

Remain.

Don't Abandon the Middle

I'm still learning this.

There are still times when I look around and wonder whether what I'm doing is making any difference.

There are still times when I want more evidence.

More participation.

More momentum.

More confirmation.

There are still times when I'd rather start something new than remain in something old that has become difficult.

But perhaps the middle is exactly where God is asking me to stop looking around and look back at Him.

Are You still here?

Are we still doing this together?

Is this still where You want me?

And if the answer is yes, then stay.

Stay close.

Listen.

Talk.

Walk.

Do today's work with Him.

Because maybe the greatest thing God is accomplishing in the middle isn't something I can measure at all.

Maybe while I'm concerned about completing the mission, He's concerned about something deeper:

that I remain with Him while we do it together.