Friday 20 October 2017

You are not as ignorant as you feel



“I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob's descendants, 'Seek me in vain.' I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.” (Isaiah 45:19)

“He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding; making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:8-9)

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." (Isaiah 30:21)

“Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

I keep hearing some of my brothers and sisters say “I want to know His will and what He wants from me, but He is not showing me. I just want Him to tell me what to do.”
I myself have said the same words several times in my life. Now I know that the problem was not God’s lack of clarity in communication. The problem were my receivers. What do I mean by that? God can share His ways with me until “He’s blue in the face”, if I lack the capacity to receive and process what He is telling me, He might as well not tell me anything.

So how do I work on my receivers, or “my antennas”, as I like to call them? I think the answer comes from Romans 12:2.
I change the way I think and my perception on things. “Easy for you to say, Ema. How do I go about accomplishing that one?”

Well, lets look at the problem. In its essence it appears to be confusion over understanding God’s plan and the direction in which you should go. Right? Wrong!

The problem is in approaching the situation from a perspective where I feel ignorant about my direction, while God, although aware, for some reason is not telling me and He keeps me in “His waiting room”. "Well, a brother just told me the other week that God is working on my patience so I should just shut up and “wait on God.”

I am not saying God never does that, I am just saying don’t accept the thought that that is how He “always” works. In the 1979 movie, “Frisco Kid” there is a great and very funny line which sounds like this “God always works the same, until He changes His mind.” What I am trying to say is do not become complacent in certain ideas either heard from others or acquired by yourself. Go to Him every time. How would you feel, if someone would say about you “No need to talk to him. He always does that, so ignore him and go ahead.”? Don’t assume, ask Him and keep asking. And more importantly ask Him with the right perspective. What is the right perspective? This is the right perspective:

“He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding; making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:8-9)

You already have everything you need to make it on this journey. You are not alone. He promised He will be with you "wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9). Wherever means wherever. So, stop accepting the lies. If He said you will "hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it" whether you turn to the right or to the left (meaning wherever you go), then that is the truth. So, stop fretting and start walking. If He goes with you wherever you go, what do you think are your chances to get lost? And even if you would get lost, how long do you think you will stay there with God as your travelling companion? So why then be afraid of anything?

God is not some cruel entity sitting up there on His throne, looking upon your confusion and misery and making you wait so you will know who is the boss. He is not only kind with you, He “showers” you in kindness. He gives you wisdom and understanding and He makes His mysteries known to you. You just need to stop looking at Him through the eyes of a world who does see Him as cruel and distant and indifferent to pain and confusion. Once you do that, once you set your heart on “God is good and He will continue to remain good, loving and merciful even when I look at Him from an evil world”, then and only then, you will understand His good and pleasing and perfect will. “Good, pleasing and perfect” for whom? For you, of course. Because guess what?

When you got to the point where your God does not change according to your problem, but remains good, loving and merciful no matter what, you will no longer see problems, or pain or confusion. Not because they will not be there, or you will never feel them again, but because instead of just sitting there “feeling” them, you will busy yourself with seeing the opportunity for growth and knowledge and intimacy with God which lays behind them. You will know that feelings come and go and they can easily be manipulated. But your God remains the same- kind, loving and merciful. Does that mean that He always works the same way? Nope, so ideally you should go and ask Him and make sure you do it from the right perspective.

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