What, not Where
Sometimes we pray, “Lord, help me to be where you want me to be!” This seems reasonable. It may occur to us that we want to be in the right place at the right time so that someone can hear the gospel. It may be that we want to be “where” the right house or job is. Perhaps it is a plea that God will not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Or maybe the “where” is a prayer for the future and it just means that we want God to providentially lead. This prayer of where is a good prayer, but at the same time, there may be a better prayer we ought to be praying.
Instead maybe we should pray, “Lord help me to be WHAT you want me to be!” You see, if we get the “what” right, it doesn’t matter where we are. Will we be a better Christian in another town? A better worker for the Lord? Will we be more effective because of peripheral circumstances, or will it be the quietness of our inner spirit which really allows others to be changed to be more like Jesus? Do we really believe that the early church was concerned with where they were, rather than what they were?
Paul and Silas sang praises to God and prayed while in stocks in the inner prison of Philippi. Abraham worshiped God on a mountain upon which he obediently offered up Isaac. Noah was faithful amidst a generation of people whose thoughts and intentions were nothing but evil continually. Job was righteous sitting on a pile of ashes while covered from head to toe with terribly painful boils. Esther was courageous while living in exile in the palace of a king who worshiped idols.
Maybe it is actually the other way around! Maybe we should ask God to put us somewhere difficult! Maybe we need to not get to be where we want so we can become what He wants! James said to “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing” (James 1:2-3). In reality, the heroes of faith were chiseled into greatness through hard and perilous circumstances. It is the fire which purifies, not the creature comforts we so often accustomed to and desire.
Where is not important. When is not important. These are circumstances that are subject to change and not always within our control. But we can always be determined to be what God wants us to be. If we are constantly striving to be WHAT God wants us to be, then when exactly He comes in glory will be irrelevant, and where we will be headed in that moment will be more than satisfactory to our souls.
Faithful, Christian people need only be concerned about the “what.” Wherever we are, and whenever He comes, may we be whatever He wants.
“You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently. Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes! “ Psalm 119:4-5
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