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Inevitable. I often find myself thinking things are inevitable. It is inevitable that I will have surgery on my neck. It is inevitable that people I love will suffer reoccurrences of things that have gone wrong. It is inevitable that evil will prevail in the midst of good. I believe that inevitability always wins out.
Inevitability takes me off the hook, of course. If it is inevitable that bad things will happen, then what does it matter if I pray? What does it matter if I work hard at spiritual warfare if the demons will return anyway? What does it matter if I love people toward God, if in the end they walk away? If I buy inevitability, I am buying discouragement and depression.
The banquet stirred up a lot of inevitability issues for me. At first I believed we wouldn’t be able to pull it off. There is ample evidence in the past of big dreams the Village dreams that are just pipe dreams. Dreams that go up in smoke because we aren’t all on the same page. Dreams that fade because the work is too great. Dreams that die because I do not lead well. So it seemed inevitable that the banquet would never happen. In one of my darker moments I remember telling Kathy that if all else failed I’d have to order pizza for the two people who would show up. Yeah, I’m that arrogant and fearful at times.
Of course, the banquet happened. Beautifully. It wasn’t inevitable that we would fail. It wasn’t inevitable that no one would come or care. The Liar was wrong. A delightful evening unfolded and God’s work in us was lifted up. Still, I quickly move my inevitability issues to the next issue. We raised far less money than we needed to reach our goal. Inevitability says that we will never reach our goal. Inevitability says that we don’t deserve good things. I confessed to the leaders the other night that I often don’t believe I deserve good things. I believe good things happen to others, because I am undeserving of grace. As though any of us ‘deserve’ grace. Yeah, I am often so arrogant as to believe that I am beyond the reach of God’s grace. It is inevitable, Satan says, that we will never have a building. It is inevitable that others will experience the joy of having their own place, but we don’t deserve one. It is inevitable that I will do something to screw it all up. And I buy his lie hook, line, and sinker.
It allows me a low level of depression to believe things are inevitable. Low level depression removes me from the need to do responsible things. It is a way of giving myself a break. It allows me to feel helpless and needy and makes others responsible for my care. And, of course, it is inevitable that they won’t come through. Inevitability allows me to avoid the responsibility of joy. Joy requires me to live in the moment and to express gratitude for what I have been given: life, love, provision, mercy, kindness, blessing of every kind. Inevitability says all those things will probably go away as soon as it is found out that I am undeserving. It is a cheap view of a Father who loves me. It is one of my sins.
Please help me with my sin of inevitability. When you hear me speak words like ‘that is the way it is’ or ‘I can’t help it if...’ or one of my favorites, ‘we will never be able to...’ then please confront me. Whenever I speak words of inevitability that lead to negative conclusions do not be afraid to say, “Rod, you need to repent your inevitability issue.”
It is inevitable that you will forget to confront me and that I will be able to repent of the arrogance of inevitability. It is inevitable that I will not be able to experience the joy of living in the moment.
The last paragraph was just to see if you were paying attention. What is inevitable is the joy of the presence of the One who loves me and dotes on me and considers me his beloved. What is inevitable is that he wants good for me. What is inevitable is that he does not let go of those he loves. There, take that Satan.
Rod | 
