Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me:
Scripture: Mat 6:28-30 Consider the lillies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Recording artist Keith Urban has a song called Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me and the opening line begins, “I got no money in my pockets. I got a hole in my jeans. I had a job but I lost it, but it won’t get to me.” Over the past few years I’ve been in and out of-mostly out of-employment. So you can see why I felt a connection to this song. However, it wasn’t so easy for me to say, “…but it won’t get to me.” The longer I went without employment the more I felt useless, not good enough, a drain and a burden all because I was without a job.
I had several friends and friends of friends who were in the same situation. It was so easy for me to pray for them and lift their spirits. I was certain, fully confident, that God had a place for them. If they were patient and faithful He would put them where they were needed, meant to be, and where they belonged.
Yet when it came to my own situation I saw only darkness, despair, and fear. What if there was no place that I was needed, no where I belonged? What then? Then it happened, so suddenly it barely seemed real. On Monday, January 31st, I started my new job. I instantly felt a connection with the people there and any fear was dissolved, gone. Here! Here is where I belong, where God wants me to be!
That Friday I went out with some close friends and family to celebrate. For a brief moment in the midst of the crowd and the noise surrounding me, I suddenly found myself standing alone, completely at peace, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. I could literally feel God standing right beside me, grinning just as widely, maybe even humming along to the music. I stayed there in my own little eye of the storm and thanked Him. How silly of me, me of little faith, to have been so worried!
Keith Urban’s song may start out pointing out the things that are missing in his life, but the next few lines focus on what he does have and ends with the line, “I’m alive and I’m free. Who wouldn’t wanna be me?” I wonder if Keith would mind if I altered it a bit to say, “I’m a child of God, alive and free. Who wouldn’t wanna be me?”
So often we worry about things in our lives that we have little or no control over, instead of relying on God the way we know we should or advise others to do. Have you ever had a moment where you felt God near, even in the most unexpected places? Take a moment now and imagine Him beside you, like your oldest most trusted friend, and give Him your worries.