I tend to learn much from my kids if I am paying attention. One thing I have learned is that more often than not, letting go of something is the only way to move forward.
My kids love toys. It used to be that every once in a while, we would buy them something randomly from Walmart. Dylan and Ronin would hold on to them closely with a look of wonder. Donovan usually ended up chewing on the box or something. They are nearly all teenagers now, so this was admittedly a while ago.
But there is one thing that Erin and I always knew was coming, and we dreaded it. We knew that at the end of our visit to the store, we were going to have to pry those toys from their hands to pay for them. If you have had this experience, then you already know how embarrassing it can be. The screaming and wailing that ensues is unbelievable. And no amount of “talking sense” into them ever worked. I tried it.
“Dylan, listen, Daddy just has to take this for a second to pay for it.” They don’t understand that in order to have the toy…they have to let it go. They don’t understand that I know what I am doing, and that what I am telling them is the way it has to be. It is the same when we get home. They are better with this now, obviously, but when our boys were younger, they would run up and ask me to open the toy. But they wouldn’t want to let it go. Have you ever tried to open a child’s toy with the child holding onto it and stomping impatiently? And our daughter still lingers in this stage.
Here is another example. Little kids tend to shut their fingers in doors and cupboards and that sort of thing. But have you ever seen it when they are leaning against the very door that is shut on their fingers? They are pushing against the door with one hand because they are trying to pull out the other. Our youngest son did this at least once. While he was screaming, I was trying to tell him that he needed to let go of the door in order to get his fingers out. I am an adult and I know how these things work. He just needed to trust that I know what I’m talking about. He did not, and so I had to intervene.
And we are the often the same way with God. We don’t see the whole picture. We don’t have all of the information. So many times, when God speaks, we don’t listen. God may be trying to say to us, “Listen, this is the way it has to be, you have got to let this go,” but we kick and scream and try to force God to work around what we are holding onto, just like my kids tried to make me open their toys while they were holding onto them.
But God is not tame and He will be forced by no one, least of all me. In Job chapter 33, Elihu tells Job: “Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. Why dost thou strive against him? For he giveth not account of any of his matters (Job 33: 12-13).” Later on, God Himself asks Job, “Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? (Job 40:2a)” By this point, Job understood his position, and his response in verse four was “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.”
And sometimes, that is exactly what we must do. Some of us may just need to put our hand over our mouth and listen to God. We need to stop contending with Him and just do what He says. Many times we try to work our own solutions around what God has told us. He truly sees the picture in its entirety.
God told Noah in Genesis 7 that He saw him and found him righteous.
God told Jacob in Genesis 31 that He saw the wrong that Laban had done unto Jacob.
God told Moses in Exodus 3 that He saw the affliction of His people.
God told Moses in Exodus 32 that He saw the stiffnecked Israelites.
God told Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20 that He saw his tears.
God told the people, through Jeremiah, that He saw His house turned to a den of robbers, He saw their adulteries with idols, and He saw the folly of their prophets.
Jesus told the Pharisees in John 8 that He saw that they wanted to kill him.
How vain are we to think that God does not see what is the best way? Endeavor to let go and listen.
No comments:
Post a Comment