♥ Friday, October 20, 2006
Will God Let Me Fail?
"I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea."
- Isaiah 48:17-18
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Will God Let Me Fail? That's a question i often ask myself, when things don't go my way, when things turn out to be different from what i expected, when i feel upset about certain stuff tat's happening, when i feel that God has failed me...
Picked up another great book from the library.. (me nerdy mah.. go library borrow books de...) There's this story adapted from there.. which makes lotsa sense to me... here it goes [a summary of it]:
Arizona in july. An air temperature of 105 degrees fahrenheit (~40 degree celcius) There was an article in the local newspaper abt a woman who, overcomed by the heat, passed out on the street and woke up seconds later, but not before receiving third degree burns to her face... It's dryyyyy heat... Maggie, my dog and i were out for an ill-advised walk in the middle of the day.. We both needed a break outside.. with a hope that the sun would rejuvenate my mind and sap her energy..
Maggie would often take me to play ball, chase the occasional cat in the empty lot at the end of the street. Pouncing after the first toss of the ball that afteroon, she suddenly stopped cold in her tracks, ears at attention, right paw ever so gently rising from the ground. Pounce! 5 or 6 birds erupted from behind the tall grass. 1 of them stayed low and Maggie barked with glee and joined in hot pursuit.
Flying down the street, they serpentined back and forth so fast and far that i quickly lost sight. I was prayin, yelling and running as the three of us headed straight for a busy five lane road, bird fleeing for its life, Maggie so focused on her desire she was oblivious to my instruction. Feelin quickly exhausted in the stifling heat, my heart leapt when i saw her finally move towards me, and then screeched to a halt when i realised that she could hardly walk.
Even though she stopped before running to her death in the busy street, her disobedience had left its mark. The heat of the pavement ripped every pad off all four feet and
now that the object of her desire was gone, she realized her pain. Maggie is normally totally obedient but this time she was so focused she didnt hear me. Sure, i could have kept her on the leash, but in my mind her past obedience gave her certain freedom.
Her choice to not listen and obey this time, robbed me of the opportunity to protect. She walked with little protective "footies" and a pronounced limp for many days and went a bit nuts not being able to play ball for to weeks, but she soon healed and life got back to normal -- with the exception that
she listened even more carefully than before.I was inspired by how much i was like my dog. God gives us all free will. We operate off leash, so we can up and run off if we choose. However, we are expected to follow voice commands-- the voice of our Master-- if we are to stay safe and get the most out of life.
Temporary enticements can distract us from the safety of God. The good news is that
He will ceaselessly call after us and, when we turn, He will bind up our wounds, give us rest, and help us to health and greater wisdom. The beautiful thing is that even after our disobedience He invites us on another walk--off leash again.
Bottom line:God does not desire you to experience pain or failure, but He can use your bad choices and the bad choices of others leading to the hurtful state of the world, to accomplish what he truly desires. God wants you to know Him as your Lord and your God. That means He wants you to know peace and joy in the confidence of His power and love despite what the world throws at you. When you ignore his instruction, you will ultimately fail in fulfilling your purpose and it will hurt. He will call after you and He might make your path more difficult so that you will turn around, but He wont force you to love Him. God wants your obedience to come from love and recognition of who He is. You are walking off leash. Choose to heel to the voice of the Master and you will walk in freedom and joy. Choose disobedience and you'll get burned...
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Does this make sense to you? It defintely did to me.. Many times i have been disobedient.. Many times i have chose to do the wrong thing.. despite knowing it's wrong.. Many times many things have happened in my life and i wonder... why me... But i know
for sure that if i turn back... He will bind up our wounds, give us rest, and help us to health and greater wisdom... The beauty of the great God.. ^^
Cos everything's changed... everything's different... ...
Michy signing off… 2:40 PM
