Making the Right Moves
Knute Larson
In the Bible I find a lot more promises from God indicating that he'll shepherd me than commands to find his specific will.
—Knute Larson The candidating process for becoming pastor of The Chapel took fourteen months. During the drawn-out ordeal, I slipped into a low-grade depression I couldn't shake, losing nineteen pounds. I felt guilty for even considering the idea of leaving my church in Ashland. After fifteen good years, I wondered if I were "deserting" that church. It felt like divorce. Feeling discouraged and confused one day, I threw down what I knew to be a silly and desperate challenge before God: "Lord, I'm going to turn on the car radio. Whatever this radio preacher says will be what you are saying to me." I clicked on the dial, and the first words I heard were, "Go, I am sending you, and I will give you courage and what to say." At first I laughed. Then I cried. Naturally, I wasn't going to let this "coincidence" or the voice of John MacArthur determine my future, but it did make me fidget. A month later, still in depression, I put out another such unorthodox fleece. Late one evening, my wife and I were discussing the pros and cons of moving when I said, "Jeanine, I'm going to turn on Haven of Rest. Whatever is on the program tonight will give us the answer." She smiled. (I would have said, "Baloney," if she had proposed it.) I turned on the radio program only to hear the program's associate director explain why he was resigning and moving on to a new ministry. "I have struggled with the issue of my indispensability," I recall him saying. "But I've come to the conclusion that God can replace me in this ministry. The work here will go on, so I must take this next step in my life." We sat a few moments in silence, prayed, ...
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