Ever said that? Most people have said this at least once or twice in their lives. If you’re like me, you’ve said it a lot. Inevitably, when I think I know something, it becomes my motivation for taking some kind of action. In retrospect, it’s more likely that there’s something I really want to do, I justify it and then I do what no one could talk me out of doing in the first place. There are those times though, that I truly feel like I have it right; those, “I got this” moments, that genuinely surprise me when they turn out wrong.
When I was 12 years old I learned a sure-fired way to get every decision I was ever going to make, right. Yes, really! At 12 years old I mustered up enough courage to get out of my church pew and walk to the alter, in front of my snickering friends, with the intent to follow Jesus (whatever that meant). I committed to baptism and a life of service and with Jesus as my intercessor, I would walk boldly into my perfect future. Of course, I was very naive about the perfection to follow but my general concept of using Jesus as my shield was about as “spot on” as a 12 year old could have been. I just didn’t really believe it.
Bottom line, I didn’t believe that God cared enough about my personal decision-making to intervene and lead me to the best decision. I didn’t believe that God would get that far down into the weeds to sort out things I felt I should have been able to do on my own. It wasn’t defiance (it may have turned into that); it was ignorance and neglect for the relationship God required of me. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him”, James 1:5 (NKJV). If God promises to do this for us (for me and you, personally), the only barrier, is a weak belief system; so weak that we don’t bother to consult God for guidance. “Yet you do not have because you do not ask”, James 4:2 (NKJV). And that’s the wake up call.
We should ask God for everything. Everything! Will we get it right every time? Probably not, but we can be satisfied that, “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”, Romans 8:28 (NKJV). As long as we are called according to “His” purpose, we are covered by His grace.
God will get down in the weeds if that’s what it takes to be with you! How do we end up being so wrong when we felt so right? Well, for me, finding myself in the weeds is the first indication and looking around to find that I’m all alone can only tell me one thing: wrong again!
civilwritesdotme 