Ever notice that most of the time you talk to confused people? I think you can tell this when they bring a problem and the answer is fairly straight forward and they are oblivious to it or when they hear something that will absolutely solve the issue they brush it off or say “that’s not for me.” You like me do this you know you do. I know I do. I’m thinking again of the Israelites begging to go back to slavery in Exodus and even Joshua. The answer for them was: continue to trust God and you will be fine. But a huge number just couldn’t see it. Reading through what they said and did a few themes come to mind.
One is they know what they want, they’re just scared of it. When we want something or want a resolution to a problem it will always take us to somewhere new. If it had been somewhere we had been before we would be there. New is scary because it is the unknown. We are primally afraid of the dark. Why? Because it is unknown. We can’t see it. If we refuse to be bold with courage like Joshua and the Israelites we will find ourselves running to be enslaved.
Two: while our words convey a reality, what we really desire or at least judge our happiness by is a feeling. We don’t want to be loved as much as want to feel loved. That simple fact creates so many rifts in so many relationships. The Israelites had the same issue you and me do. They wanted to feel secure not trust they were. God loves us and knows we, like the Israelites, have extremely little faith so he allows us to feel His presence at times to remind us He is there. But, for the most part he has us trust Him. Trust is unknown therefore it is scary.
The unknown scares me and it scares you. We both hate trusting anything. We know we have to but we hate it. Heres the thing. When we are in an area where we are firmly away from the feeling and surrounded by the trusting of God, miraculous things happen in our lives. What are you doing or what do you have set-up in your life that is there to make you feel ok that you should be trusting God with instead? Do you have the courage to change it?
I’m praying we both do.
Would love to hear from you.
