“Sorry
am late coming in this morning, but I got stuck behind that school bus again
and traffic was congested as per normal.”
“Well,
you know, if you left 5 or 10 minutes earlier in the morning you would likely
miss both.”
Day
two sees the same conversation. Day
three is a bit different as a co-worker explains they had the same problem
until they started leaving five minutes earlier in the morning and now they are
early enough to actually stop for coffee after they get into town.
Day
four. We are awake and ready in plenty
of time but still, we do not leave earlier for no real apparent good reason and
yet again, we are late.
We
see the issue here. We know why we are
having such problems and what we can easily do to alleviate our frustrations. Do we do what we know will help us? No, we don’t and we continue to get ourselves
nicely worked up day after day as we complain as we drive in each morning. But why?
Really, why?
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does
not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after
looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like."
~ James 1:22-24
It
would almost be nice if the above scenario was solely a hands-on, physical
issue but it is not. No, far too often
it happens to us in our spiritual lives as well.
We
know we are having an issue with whatever. So, being the good children we are, we turn
to our Father and seek what not only the problem is, but also a
resolution. He, being the good Father He
is, is more than willing to show us everything we need to know including what
we can do (if, in fact it, is something we can do) about said issue. All done and settled right? Sometimes, but unfortunately far too often,
for no good reason, we simply carry on as before even though we know what will bring us relief.
Perhaps
we have been having a rough time as we work through our days and pray for His guidance. He tells us, through more than one source
over the course of a week, that we need to make some real intentional time to
spend with Him in the morning just as our day begins. We even hear the same statement said by a
friend who is unaware of our current issues.
Do we make some time – even just 5 minutes – to spend with God just as
our day is getting started? Do we even
bother to try and make time as we drive in to work in the morning other than
maybe simply praying that we will make it in on time or complaining to Him
about everything we can think of?
We
do know enough to turn to God when we have something going on in our life that
seems either too big for us or is just plain out driving us insane. So why is it when He answers, that we do not
follow His advice? I mean really, how
better a source for advice could there possibly be than the Lord of all creation? It is not like He does not know what He is
talking about or that He has some devious alternative motive in mind or that He
does not know exactly (as in better than even we do) what we are going through
and what we are capable of doing about it.
May
I make a suggestion? The next time (or
current if it so applies) you are having whatever issue or are feeling
convicted on whatever grounds, take it to God.
Do not merely take it to Him but ask Him what the issue really is and
what, if anything, you can do about it.
And here is the big part: do
it. Do not just think about it. Do not just hear it and pack it away as some
gem of wisdom you have for a later time to give to someone else. Actually do it. You may just find out that He did know what
He was talking about and that your life may become just a bit less frustrating.
“Hey
Troy, don’t you have something you should be doing right now?”
“Yep,
now that you mention it, yes I do.”
