Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Delighting In Ghost Crabs

      The other morning I was sitting on the beach having my quiet time.  I was facing the west while the sun was coming up behind me.  Sand crabs surrounded me but I noticed this one sand crab nearby working diligently to dig its hole.  At the same time it was cautiously looking out for predators and watching me.  Every time it came out of the hole it would look at me to see what I would do, then move the sand in its claw to the pile outside the hole.

     Other crabs nearby stopped working all together.  They would sit with their eyes poking out of the hole watching me.  Some scurried into their holes and never came out again the whole hour I sat there.  A few crabs came a little close to me to check me out.  As soon as I moved a way they didn’t like however, they scurried back into their holes.  Some were halfway out and some just had their eyes out.    

     After awhile the crab closest to me didn’t seem to be bothered by me anymore.  It trusted that I wouldn’t hurt it and it even let me get close enough to video it working.  The ones further away however just kept watching.  They didn’t trust me. 

     During this encounter with the crabs I realized that this is like our relationship as humans with God.  When we are close to God we can trust Him because we know His character and what delights Him.  We know He wants our best and not to harm us.  The longer we are close to Him the less we have to worry because we know what delights Him and what He is like.  We the more time we spend close to Him, the more we learn about His character and purpose for our lives.  When we know God, we can go about our business, living out our purpose, bringing glory to Him, because we know He delights in us when we live out our purpose. 

     This crab was living out its purpose and I was delighted by it.  The other crabs however I found boring.  Then I thought, does God find me boring or does He delight in me?

     Sometimes I’m like the boring crabs, the ones that don’t move.  Instead of fulfilling my purpose, I just stand, far away, waiting to see how God moves.  If it is a way I don’t like, or a way that makes me feel uncomfortable, I run back to my partially completed hole to hide.  When the uncomfortable situation goes away I’ll come back out.  I can never fully trust God when I’m far away from Him because I’m too afraid to get close to Him.  When I’m hiding I don’t fulfill my purpose and that makes God sad. 

     When I am fulfilling my purpose however, God delights in me.  He probably wants to show me off to the world just as I am doing with the video I took.  He wants to show me off because He wants me to be an example to others.  This is called a testimony.  No matter how scary life may get, I must continue living out my purpose!  I mustn’t be afraid of my circumstances or people around me because the purpose of my life is to bring glory to God, in good times and bad, it doesn’t matter!!!  I can trust Him and so I can keep doing what I was created to do regardless of my situation!

     How awesome is that!? I serve a Creator who just wants to be delighted with me and for me to delight in Him!!        



     “Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of men.” ~Proverbs 8:30-31

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