Irrevocable

Have you ever had your driver's license suspended?

Just wondering...

I suppose if you're a person whose schedule requires you to drive a vehicle from here to there, then, having your license revoked would create quite a hassle.

At which point you would have a significant decision to make: choose to break the law or be at the mercy of the next available Uber?

Isn't that kind of the way the world works? At any given moment in time we can be handed a title, a position, a responsibility, even a gift and in a matter of seconds it can all be taken away...

Revoked!

I remember years ago setting in front of the computer at the DMV successfully completing the test for my driving permit. I was a real licensed driver. Under close supervision, of course, but a licensed driver nonetheless.

A year later, sitting behind the wheel, ready to show the world my skills, I parallel parked my mom's mini van like a boss. [Actually, it may not have been a mini van.]

I was rocking this driving thing turn after turn. Until...

Until the attendant said, "Did you notice that sign?" "Sign?" I guess not. But I should have. The big white sign with black letters that said, "NO TURN ON RED."

I didn't break the speed limit. I didn't change lanes without a signal. I didn't run a stop sign.

But I made one fatal mistake. After looking both ways multiple times, I forgot to look up. And it cost me dearly. I was a mere 200 feet from the finish line only to hear her say, "I'm sorry. You will not be able to receive your license today."

Denied.

Is it any wonder why so many people walk through life the way they do? Looking for land mines and waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under their feet.

Why?

Because the thought of revocation is frightening. Rejection is painful and sometimes too difficult to handle. To be denied becomes a form of brutality to our souls.

There was a time when life's circumstances had placed all odds against my favor. I looked up and felt abandoned. I looked within and felt so empty. I looked around and it seemed like the people that mattered were busy and preoccupied. And I began to question all that I had ever known.

We're convinced that nothing is permanent. That nothing can last a lifetime. That jobs will be lost. Promises will be broken. Our greatest treasures will lose their value. That even the good gifts of life can be taken back.

And yet I'm supposed to believe some anomaly that there is this one person making this one promise that I can take to the bank. Yeah right! Why should I believe that? If everything and everybody in the world has the capacity to fail me, why should I trust anyone?

And yet there's this one phrase tucked away in a letter written by this rebel, a murderer, after his life had been transformed by the God of the universe, "the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

That what this God says and what this God gives cannot be taken back. That's incredible! God is making irreversible promises to His people and no form of evil, not even our own selfish desires, can thwart His inscrutable ways.

There is no question that God placed an undeniable call on my life. And that call has been more clear than any word ever spoken over me. More than my parents' words. My teachers' words. My coaches' words. More than any word meant for pain.

What God established before the foundation of the world will never been shaken. The word that brought light out of darkness and everything from nothingness is the same word that has spoke truth over you and me. How incredible is that? His word, His calling, is irrevocable!