“Transiting
Life According to My Way or God’s Way”
All of the following is to say that for
most, it is easier to have a healthier expectation of a local transit system than
to have a healthy expectation of God and His ways.
THE EXAMPLE OF THE TRANSIT BUS: When was the last time you went to catch a bus
and did one or more of the following?
Demand that the bus be there waiting when
you arrived at the stop in order to avoid inconvenience.
Demand that the bus arrive in order to avoid
unpleasant weather or a bad situation.
Demand that the bus stop be situated where it
was most convenient.
Demand that the bus arrive on your schedule
and/or according to your plan no matter the effect on others.
Demand that the bus travel on routes that
are pleasant.
Of course this is most ludicrous. The transit system plan insures that the bus
arrives according to a schedule designed to fit with a greater plan? Perhaps it is traffic volume, a city’s
traffic flow pattern, the number of riders, where and when those riders typically
travel, high use facilities such as shopping malls, etc.
BEFORE WE BEGIN: Before continuing be clear about one very
important thing. God is not the prisoner
of His own good ideas and thus He is free to interrupt our expectations of Him
according to His good pleasure. He is to
be trusted beyond our understanding and we must be willing to accept His
interruptions whether they be quiet or dramatic!
He is the great healer, the provider, the One who blesses, the destroyer of spiritual strongholds, the
one who commissions signs and wonders, and the One we call on to be against the evil one and his kingdom of darkness.
However, there is a problem and we need to think about it in terms of man's limitations!
CONCERN - MAN’S LIMITED VIEW: As one does not expect the bus to be there
according to one’s personal plans, pleasures, purposes or agendas, so too one
does well not place those expectations and others like them upon God and His interventions in the lives of His followers. Consider the following.
God's Love? Most certainly God does love each and every
person. However, such love is expressed in
ways one may not understand. The example
is that of a parent who expresses love in a way that may not be understood or accepted
by the child.
Consider as well the matter of what God likes. He may love everyone but that does not mean that He likes everyone. To be in the favor or the "like" relationship with God means that one seek to live a life which is pleasing to the Heavenly Father (More about this in a later post).
Man's View: Remember man’s view is
limited by many factors. To suppose that
any one person has the grand plan is to suggest that the finite fully
understand the Infinite.
Man's Supposition: As one makes way through
life, it is to say the least naive to suppose one knows the best course to follow and/or the best course of
action. From my Navy days consider the following. Imagine a ship transiting the entrance to a sea port without soundings, navigational aids, navigational charts, and/or a channel
master. God is the ultimate Channel
Master who knows best the channel in which His follower’s lives are to flow
individually and corporately.
God's Timing: Consider too that to demand
God to be there upon one’s own schedule is very often to limit one’s view of God's intervention.
When one enjoys the event we call a Divine encounter, most often it is best experienced when God shows up or intervenes in one's life in an unexpected manner at an unexpected moment.
MAN A GOD? A SUBTLE TRAP: Consider this question. Do you recognize these words, “…You will be
like God?” Yes, from the earliest
records of mankind in the Garden of Eden, it was all about man placing himself
in God’s position. That which was once presented
as a temptation now has become ingrained in man’s depraved thinking and the ultimate
expression of the “self.”
Whether tacitly or directly
stated such insidious thoughts often becomes a part of one’s mental content and
process. Unfortunately such cannot be limited to those
outside of the Church for it has made inroads into those of faith. It all sounds so good, designer god on my
terms at my time.
RESPONSIBLE SURRENDER: It is far better to surrender indeed commit
to and live out the words, “Not my will but Thine be done.” Immediately some
will counter that it is some kind of “Christian Fatalism.” That is to say they counter with the criticism
that such commitment means; “I am absolved of any and all responsibility when I
pray, ‘Not my will but Thine be done’.”
Not so!
Join me back in my Navy
days for another illustration. In order
for a ship to have steering, it must be underway. In other words, a ship dead in the water and
unanchored is at the mercy of current and tide.
Such is also true of the Christian.
In order for the “Thy will
not mine” to work one must go forward in one’s faith. However, one must also be willing for such
plans and purposes as are in place to be interrupted. Neither does it serves God’s purposes to be
unwilling to go in ways found to be inconvenient—God’s way is always comforting
and confidence building but often found to be not convenient.
All of the preceding is to say that for
most, it is easier to have a healthier expectation of a local transit system than
to have a healthy expectation of God and His ways.
THE CHALLENGE: Trust in the Lord and do not give in to the
propensity to try to figure it all out for such is always limited by our finite perspective. Leave such to the side and God will lead in the path in which
one should go, the path that lines up perfectly with His Kingdom plan.
