― Helen Keller
The other morning I picked up my shoes to put them on for work. They were very wet. Come to find out my two year old grandson had soaked them with water. I chuckled about it throughout the day, but God used it in our conversation. If my 7 year old grandson would have soaked my shoes, it might not have been so funny, depending on how it happened. Purposely pouring water into them would not be acceptable. I believe there are things God lets us get away with early on in our walk that He is not so tolerant of later on. There are also a few little things that I don't think are important to Him at all. It's all in the purpose.
When we are little we are dependent on adults for everything. Then we start asking "Why?". When we are told, then we know and we grow. God explained these stages to me and how I have grown through them. I was totally dependent on Dave at first, to validate my feelings, to tell me if he thought I was on the right path and keep me headed in the right direction. Eventually I started asking "Why" and I not only asked Dave, but I started asking God. The real changes have come as I step into real knowledge. I've gone from asking why doesn't God love me until I can say, most of the time, God loves me. I am His child. I have gone from dependency on the outside to knowing the Holy Spirit on the inside of me. There will always be more to learn, but with knowledge comes security and the ability to focus outside of myself, because the inside is secure in the knowledge of Him.
There comes a time when we realize adults are human too. They are kids in adult bodies sometimes. When we realize that they don't know everything and make mistakes there is a let down period. Then you wonder is anybody really grown up at all. I am amazed by the expectations put on people who have devoted their lives to ministry. Pastors are expected to have all the answers. I asked Dave to pray for me about something stupid the other day and then realized, "Really? I think I can talk to God about that." I'm not saying we don't need prayer at times. I guess it just surprises me when people want those obviously close to God to get them all the answers about their specific life, instead of getting to know God on a level that you can ask Him yourself and hear His answer.
When I was a kid hanging in a group we always selected a leader to go ask the hard questions. Ask Mom if we could play by the water, ask the teacher if we could play baseball for P.E., or ask if we could have desert. We tend to do this as believers. Let's let the pastor find out how to get to heaven, if certain acts are a sin, and what God wants us to know about a situation. It was easier to hang back at the foot of the mountain and let Moses do all the conversing with God. Why would He talk to us?
When I was a kid hanging in a group we always selected a leader to go ask the hard questions. Ask Mom if we could play by the water, ask the teacher if we could play baseball for P.E., or ask if we could have desert. We tend to do this as believers. Let's let the pastor find out how to get to heaven, if certain acts are a sin, and what God wants us to know about a situation. It was easier to hang back at the foot of the mountain and let Moses do all the conversing with God. Why would He talk to us?
Maybe Moses was the only one brave enough or who believed enough or wanted it bad enough. In the old testament God talked to people like Noah and Moses. He gave dreams to Joseph. He sent a cloud and fire to guide people to the promise land. After 400 years of silence He sent His son to walk beside people. Maybe they would believe if they could see in human form and feel the touch of His hand. Maybe if they could hear his voice while they saw His lips move or if they could sit down and eat with Him. Still, not everyone believed and fewer believed He was interested in them specifically. In the last book of the bible we learn He will be back for us. He said He had to go and the Holy Spirit would come to be in us. People tend to think He was talking to specific people only. He was talking to all of us.
So when we want answers we expect the pastor, the elders, or that guy who has been sitting in the front row for 150 years to know this stuff. Moses didn't have all the answers. He was on the same journey to the Promised Land. The difference was he was chosen to be the leader. Maybe because God knew he would listen and follow instruction. He walked every mile and ate manna with the rest of them. We are so offended when the leaders don't act "Holier than thou" but Moses got mad and hit the rock. He was a leader. Chosen for his belief, knowledge willingness, or whatever, only One knows for sure. I would rather follow a leader who gets mad once in awhile, doesn't always have a good day, and questions God once in awhile. Why? Because he knows what I'm going through and it's fresh in his mind if he just dealt with it himself. They are leaders, not little Gods and we have a responsibility to lift them up. Pray for them. Bless them. Give back. Their whole life is devoted to us for God, we shouldn't criticize, let's humanize.
The more we grow in God, the more we know God, the less we ask why and the more often we say "Thank you." Not do you love me, but Thank you for loving me. Not "Where are you God?", but "Thank you for never leaving me or forsaking me like you promised." He has answered the basic questions. It's our job to know those answers and thank him. Get off the milk and get into some meat and potatoes. Just like those moments when you realize your child knows you love them or knows what is acceptable and what is not, God loves those moments in us, too. And those appointed leaders obviously love seeing the people they are responsible to lead step into the "know". Moses had to be frustrated with his group at times.
We always need to be dependent on God, but I believe there is a level of independence He wants to see in us. We should move from being carried by God, to following, and finally to walking beside Him. Then we lead others into knowledge.
“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
So when we want answers we expect the pastor, the elders, or that guy who has been sitting in the front row for 150 years to know this stuff. Moses didn't have all the answers. He was on the same journey to the Promised Land. The difference was he was chosen to be the leader. Maybe because God knew he would listen and follow instruction. He walked every mile and ate manna with the rest of them. We are so offended when the leaders don't act "Holier than thou" but Moses got mad and hit the rock. He was a leader. Chosen for his belief, knowledge willingness, or whatever, only One knows for sure. I would rather follow a leader who gets mad once in awhile, doesn't always have a good day, and questions God once in awhile. Why? Because he knows what I'm going through and it's fresh in his mind if he just dealt with it himself. They are leaders, not little Gods and we have a responsibility to lift them up. Pray for them. Bless them. Give back. Their whole life is devoted to us for God, we shouldn't criticize, let's humanize.
The more we grow in God, the more we know God, the less we ask why and the more often we say "Thank you." Not do you love me, but Thank you for loving me. Not "Where are you God?", but "Thank you for never leaving me or forsaking me like you promised." He has answered the basic questions. It's our job to know those answers and thank him. Get off the milk and get into some meat and potatoes. Just like those moments when you realize your child knows you love them or knows what is acceptable and what is not, God loves those moments in us, too. And those appointed leaders obviously love seeing the people they are responsible to lead step into the "know". Moses had to be frustrated with his group at times.
We always need to be dependent on God, but I believe there is a level of independence He wants to see in us. We should move from being carried by God, to following, and finally to walking beside Him. Then we lead others into knowledge.
“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
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