How do you explain something that even to you makes no sense? My wife and I have made a move in our life that I didn’t honestly expect to ever make. I mean it never entered my mind. I’ve seen other people do go this direction before, but I just never imagined I would do the same. Not that we were ever arrogant or thought we were above such a move. It just never occurred to me that we would too. We never said “Oh, I’d never do that” as if we felt a certain amount of piety or pride in ourselves. But now we have moved in a direction that removes a lot of the comfort we have felt for so long. Like I said, it really doesn’t make any sense. And yet we know that we’ve done the right thing. I can’t explain it because I’m not sure I understand completely. I just know that it’s what we’re supposed to do.
Why does God move us like this at times? We’ve made a move that it many minds would appear to be contradictory to His Word. But actually the Word is not very plain about this. It really doesn’t explain how to do what we’ve done. But we know its right and that God’s hand is upon us.
What an interesting statement: “God’s hand is upon us”. What does that mean? I’ve often heard this phrase used when someone is speaking of a special event or time in one’s life. Like His hand “guided us through the desert”, or “God blessed us during this special season in our life” I don’t mean to make light of these statements or appear to say they are not true. But the context of the statement this phrase is used in is usually regarding something different and special. But actually, if we are walking with Jesus, isn’t the hand of God always upon us? Isn’t he always guiding? If we hadn’t moved in this direction, would His hand still be upon us? What if it were not exactly what He wanted for us? Would His hand still be there? I sure hope so. I don’t want to live outside of His protection and guidance.
If we are faced with a decision that changes the direction of our lives in some way, and we make the “wrong” decision, isn’t God still the loving Father he was before? Does he get mad and decide to remove His hand and guidance? Would any loving Father remove his care from his child because the child made a poor decision?
I’m at a time in my life where my children are making some important decisions about who they are and what direction they are going. Some of these decisions are hard and they aren’t always sure what to do. We’ve give them some good, sound and loving advise in an effort to give them guidance in their decision making. However, if they decide to not follow our counsel, not out of rebellion or stubbornness, but just because they thought they were doing the right thing, should I stop trying to assist them in further decisions? Never! I love my children enough to know that there comes a time when they must be allowed to make mistakes in order to learn. We learn by making mistakes. Not failing – just mistakes. When asked how he felt about how many attempts or “failures” it took Thomas Edison to invent the light bulb, he said he never failed. He just learned about all the ways not to make one. His attitude wasn’t “pass or fail”. It was all about learning.
And with the right attitude, that’s what we are all doing. Learning. God is teaching and we are learning. We don’t always get it right. Sometimes it can feel like we seldom do. But if our hearts are pursuing God, He never stops teaching, no matter how many attempts it takes.
In our case, there is not empirical data or written instructions for us to base our decision upon. We just have a knowing that this is right. That’s what can make following Jesus so different from living in the world. His ways and the world’s ways seem to be 180 degrees opposed to each other. They are at opposite ends of a spectrum. Jesus’ ways are “follow me”, “listen to my voice”, “learn to know my heart”, “trust me in the face of opposition”, “don’t listen to the world’s advice”. We believe we have heard from Him and trust His guidance. How do you explain that? Even to other believers who may disagree. If you have any suggestions, I’m all ears.
Why does God move us like this at times? We’ve made a move that it many minds would appear to be contradictory to His Word. But actually the Word is not very plain about this. It really doesn’t explain how to do what we’ve done. But we know its right and that God’s hand is upon us.
What an interesting statement: “God’s hand is upon us”. What does that mean? I’ve often heard this phrase used when someone is speaking of a special event or time in one’s life. Like His hand “guided us through the desert”, or “God blessed us during this special season in our life” I don’t mean to make light of these statements or appear to say they are not true. But the context of the statement this phrase is used in is usually regarding something different and special. But actually, if we are walking with Jesus, isn’t the hand of God always upon us? Isn’t he always guiding? If we hadn’t moved in this direction, would His hand still be upon us? What if it were not exactly what He wanted for us? Would His hand still be there? I sure hope so. I don’t want to live outside of His protection and guidance.
If we are faced with a decision that changes the direction of our lives in some way, and we make the “wrong” decision, isn’t God still the loving Father he was before? Does he get mad and decide to remove His hand and guidance? Would any loving Father remove his care from his child because the child made a poor decision?
I’m at a time in my life where my children are making some important decisions about who they are and what direction they are going. Some of these decisions are hard and they aren’t always sure what to do. We’ve give them some good, sound and loving advise in an effort to give them guidance in their decision making. However, if they decide to not follow our counsel, not out of rebellion or stubbornness, but just because they thought they were doing the right thing, should I stop trying to assist them in further decisions? Never! I love my children enough to know that there comes a time when they must be allowed to make mistakes in order to learn. We learn by making mistakes. Not failing – just mistakes. When asked how he felt about how many attempts or “failures” it took Thomas Edison to invent the light bulb, he said he never failed. He just learned about all the ways not to make one. His attitude wasn’t “pass or fail”. It was all about learning.
And with the right attitude, that’s what we are all doing. Learning. God is teaching and we are learning. We don’t always get it right. Sometimes it can feel like we seldom do. But if our hearts are pursuing God, He never stops teaching, no matter how many attempts it takes.
In our case, there is not empirical data or written instructions for us to base our decision upon. We just have a knowing that this is right. That’s what can make following Jesus so different from living in the world. His ways and the world’s ways seem to be 180 degrees opposed to each other. They are at opposite ends of a spectrum. Jesus’ ways are “follow me”, “listen to my voice”, “learn to know my heart”, “trust me in the face of opposition”, “don’t listen to the world’s advice”. We believe we have heard from Him and trust His guidance. How do you explain that? Even to other believers who may disagree. If you have any suggestions, I’m all ears.
1 comment:
You hit it on the head. I've been "committed to being committed" for awhile now. What a great way of putting it. For the most part, I usually follow the rules. It's gotten me in trouble before because I was so committed to them and not to the spirit of being in relationship with the Maker. That's what I'm learning now. While boundries are necessary, I have been more interested in the boundries than in the life we are to live within them. The boundries are not the focus - His Abundant Life is!
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