Why Me?
Why does life drop so much on each of us? Because life for us results as much from our individual choices as from unrelated circumstances. This is the mysterious key we leave dangling on the spare ring as we charge forth to face the world. We can’t change where we enter the world or when. We can’t change our genetic composition. God sets those parameters in place as key ingredients in His planned life for us. Beyond those constraints, we’ve been given extraordinary options. God could lift His children over barriers and obstacles with a smile, for all else in the present and future are His to command. But He won’t unless He knows the one who asks for help. If we choose to take on the challenges of life alone, our heavenly Father will honor our choice allowing every consequence to fall on us in it’s natural order. Our problem has been that when our ill-informed choices don’t play out as hoped, we refuse to accept full responsibility? We find a multitude of excuses, sharing blame with anyone who had even a cameo role. When the results are unusually tragic, we’ll point to that same Father we’ve chosen to ignore. Yet it’s our choices and experiences which always return to us.
While knowledge may be ours to gain, wisdom is the Lord’s to give. “Take my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. (Proverbs 8:10, 11 ESV). Our history plays like this: we’ve learned that rivers flood and oceans surge, yet we still choose to sleep on their shores. We know well of the fury of swirling winds, yet we nest amongst the twisted trees. It’s clear to us what sustains and nourishes, yet we choose to consume those delights which elevate our moods. We worry of pests and disease, yet we spray our crops with gentle poisons. Clearly, our wisdom has been parked and our foresight abandoned. Where to turn, whom to trust? God is the better guide for He considers everything. “For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” (Proverbs 1:32, 33 ESV). The love from our childhood is the love we’ve grown to know, which comes back to us as friend or foe. God’s pure love is dressed in wisdom and compassion, ready to go when-ever and where-ever needed. We need to trust in and depend on the Lord instead of the love of ourselves.
JC Calkins with COMMON SENSE 4 UNCOMMON PEOPLE (share)
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