"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"
That seems to have been the mantra of my life for the past couple weeks. I have been spinning in circles for several days (years really) trying to find answers to some of life's toughest questions, getting dizzier and dizzier.
Can you guess what happened next?
I fell down. Face first.
I could just picture God shaking His head at me.
You see, all along I've been ignoring His voice, content to just trudge through the mud on my own. Who knows what's best for my life better than me, right??
In this moment, the thing I love most about my God is His uncanny ability to take the right answer (the one I've been avoiding) and knock me right over the head with it. He lets us flounder around for as long as we choose because He loves us enough to give us that choice. But when we finally spot Him offshore we're shocked that He's been holding up a giant neon-sign the entire time. After all the struggling, I realize that every single encounter, every question, every word of advice all pointed to the same answer.
I just wasn't ready to hear it.
I can echo that sentiment.
ReplyDeleteDuring this chapter of my life I have been wresting with why things have happened to me the way they have and I was drawn to a study in Habakkuk (yes, I know..Old Testament). In that book, Habakkuk is facing the repercussions of Isreal's sins at the hand of the Babylonians and he is crying out to God. He is asking God, "How long are you going to allow this to happen?" and so on.
In that I drew out a few points that have encouraged me:
1. God's answers will always be plain. (He told Habakkuk that He was doing this for a reason.)
2. The answer will be in His Time. (as you can already attest)
3. The answer will be true. (It's against God's character to lie)
4. You have to wait for the answer (see number 2)
5. God will provide the answer at the right time (again see number 2)
I have had to come to grips with some realities these last few weeks and months but at the end it is always God who comes out as the hero in the story.