There Are Always Unknowns

This morning, I was going to head over to church for choir practice. My car is outside so I was going to start the car warming up so that it would defrost my windows. I looked out and I could see through the windows from one side to the other. No frost I thought and so I didn’t start the car but went back in to finish getting ready. When I headed out to the car to get going, I was shocked to see that the front window still had quite a bit of frost on it that required some scraping. Up to that point, I was feeling so good about being ready to go. I’d like to tell you there was an amazing result because I was running late, but I’m not aware of anything. Maybe I was spared hitting a deer because of the delay, or maybe I was just running late. We want to be in control. We want to call the shots. We want to be able to say, “I did it my way!” Sadly, my way is often in conflict with God’s way. God’s way requires trusting Him, surrendering my will, and to be prepared for the unknowns. Sometimes God uses these unknown circumstances to get our attention. It is then, when we recognize God’s leading, that we are usable. Sure, God can force me to do something. He did control various people in the Bible. But that is not how it normally works. One person, fully submitted to God, can accomplish more for God than a multitude of self-seeking Christians. Where do you fall on that scale of obedience? If Adam and Eve had been obedient, there would be no sin in the world. If Cain had been obedient, his brother Abel would not have been killed. If the people had been obedient, there would not have been a world wide flood and later, they wouldn’t have ended up in exile... several times. Thankfully Jesus was obedient... all the way to death on the cross. I look at things through my limited vision, but God sees the whole picture. I see my life as being in good shape while God sees there are areas I am falling in. We need to be praying to see the world through God’s eyes. Along with that is the need to allow God to be Lord. I read recently that it is not enough to believe in a savior. More importantly, we must allow Him to be Lord of all our life. Father, forgive me for trusting my own wisdom. Pour out Your Spirit upon me and fill me with true understanding. Amen