My wife and I went on a little road trip on Saturday. There were some points along the way where I was momentarily disoriented. Not Lost—I was only temporarily directionally challenged. Inevitably, when this happens every husband knows his wife is going to say: “honey, why don’t you stop and ask for directions!” And if the husband is a “real” man, he will say “not necessary; I can find it.” And he keeps going until he reaches his destination.
God forbid that we ‘men’ should transfer this spirit of independence and self-sufficiency to our relationship with God. But I fear we often do [and by the way, women do it too!]. We are so sure we know what God wants to do that we fail to stop and ask for His direction. Only after we get totally off-course and completely befuddled, do we stop and say, “oops! I should have asked for directions!”
One time a young pastor of a start-up church told me that he had made a major decision about moving the location of his church from one side of town to another. When the church changed locations, a large number of his congregants stopped coming. For a year, the little church hobbled along, trying to catch up to its earlier numbers. Finally, the pastor realized he had made a mistake and confessed his pride to the Lord. At once, a new opportunity opened up for the little church in the former location. Immediately, the church began to grow again as the former congregants now returned. The pastor had assumed he knew God’s plan. But he had failed to stop and ask directions.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5-7).
No comments:
Post a Comment