Here's a confession for you: Often when I go to God about decisions I’m making, I come to him with my proposal typed out and neat and tidy in a folder. I lay it all out on the table and show him how I’ve narrowed it down to two choices, A and B, and which would he like to choose?
The reality of this astounds me. That I have the audacity to take the God of the Universe, the Creator of everything complex and incomprehensible who wrote this great story that we call Life and Eternity, who is bigger than anything I can imagine and who understands it all and somehow stitches this huge tapestry together into one great, intricate and beautiful masterpiece; and I give him a multiple-choice quiz with two possible answers: A or B.
Of course I don't realize I'm doing it at the time; I simply fail to see beyond my human eyes and perspective of what the possibilities are. It's only later or even in hindsight, that I realize how greatly narrowed my convention of "answers" are. And it's not just me; people did that to Jesus back when he was alive, too: taking to him these questions or demands and presenting them to him as having only two options. But time and time again, He would break that mold and show them how close-minded their thinking truly was, instead showing them (and us) another route or another question that never crossed their mind.
I realize that what is better, what is more fruitful, is to focus simply on just asking God the question and leave it at that; stop it with the “I’ve already analyzed the situation, so choose between these two.” Go to him from the beginning with the raw question and leave it open-ended. “What do you want? What do you want me to do with this?” and then…wait and listen.
This acknowledges that he knows better than we do and that his answers are so much better than the lousy and limiting–and un-interesting!–A and B choices I often give him. Even more than that, it's his desire to want the best for me even more than I do. There are so many other options; I need not strip him of his creativity and his power. Option C can be so much greater than I ever could have imagined!
I will bring you gold in place of bronze,
silver in place of iron, bronze in place of wood,
iron in place of stones.
Isaiah 60:17
silver in place of iron, bronze in place of wood,
iron in place of stones.
Isaiah 60:17
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This is so hard to do! I am great at giving God two options and then waiting for him to guide me to the one I like best! Thank you for sharing this, I needed to be reminded of it this morning. That's a beautiful verse.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brittany! I know, oftentimes I don't even realize I'm doing it; in my humanity I forget that there might be more choices, which is the beauty of God's grace and wisdom!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love this verse, too. There was a time in my life where the Lord really brought this to life for me--surpassing all my expectations to bring me far greater things than I thought possible. Truly "gold in place of bronze."
just what i needed to read
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