Posts Tagged ‘Answer’
Being Told No
Posted on: 7-15-112014
My grandchildren, like any children, do not like to be told “no” when they want something. Because I’m the Nana, I have the pleasure of not having to say “no” too often…and my grandchildren know this all too well. When they are told “no” by someone else, if I am anywhere in the vicinity, they come running to me for help. The younger ones will hold up their little arms so I will pick them up and love on them. They then precede to “tattle” on whoever told them “no” by babbling and pointing at the perpetrator. My oldest grandson is well known for giving his mom her cell phone and telling her to call me when he doesn’t get his way. Of course, I think this is so cute…their moms aren’t of the same opinion. It’s amazing to me how early they catch on to this behavior! My daughter and I were talking about this a few days ago and I have been thinking about how we, as adults, can do the very same thing when God tells us “no” about something we want. No sooner is “no” out of His mouth than we are running to someone for a different answer. We may go to a family member, a friend, a co-worker…anyone who we think may tell us we can have what we want. And when we find someone who says “yes” we tend to completely ignore what God had to say about the matter. The problem with this behavior is that we eventually find out that God’s “no” was much better than the “yes” from the person we ran to. We realize that God’s way was the better way and then we have to deal with the consequences resulting from not listening to Him. When I allow my grandchildren to do something that they were previously told “no” about, there are no life altering consequences at stake. They may get a cookie or get to paint or play in the mud or something fun like that, but there is nothing major on the line. With God, however, rebelling against His “no” may have severe ramifications. We have to learn to trust Him, even when the answer He gives us isn’t the one we want to hear.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Better Than Duct Tape
Posted on: 7-15-112014
- In: God | Jesus | Uncategorized
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I taught 4th grade for several years. As a teacher, I was always on the lookout for “teacher” supplies. One day as I prepared my classroom for the upcoming year, I came across a metal stand that you could hang chart paper from which had been thrown out by another teacher. “I can use this,” I thought. Her trash was going to become my treasure. When I retrieved it from the trash, I discovered that most of the metal was quite rusted. However, I wasn’t ready to give up on this “treasure” just yet. I was very blessed to have an amazing friend who helped me set up my classroom each year and she had a brilliant idea. “We can just wrap all the metal in duct tape. You won’t even be able to tell it’s rusted!” So, duct tape it was to the rescue! Yellow duct tape, might I add, because that was my yellow year…all the bulletin boards had yellow paper, the take home folders were yellow, and even the truck I drove was yellow. Anyway, the duct tape worked beautifully and I got a lot of use out of that metal stand. I’ve often heard people say you can fix anything with duct tape, and it certainly fixed the rusting metal stand. Even though it worked so well in this instance, I can’t agree that duct tape can fix everything. No matter how handy it is, it can’t fix some of the problems we face every day. It can’t fix our lonely hearts, our mountain of debt, our failing health, our loss of a loved one, our empty womb, our empty nest, our hurts, our heartaches, our failures, our addictions…the list is endless. Now, while we may not actually try to use literal duct tape to solve our problems, we use things that are just about as effective. Just as duct tape won’t help us, neither will alcohol, drugs, food, affairs, shopping, busyness, burying ourselves in anything but our problem…you get my drift. We try to solve our problems with so many things that will never work…in fact, they do just the opposite…they make things worse. There is only one thing we can count on to solve our problems and that is Jesus. He is the answer to any difficulty we face. Now, please don’t get this message wrong…I’m not saying that we will not have any difficulties if we follow Jesus…I’m saying that He is the answer to every difficulty we face! His Word even tells us that we will face trials, tribulations, distress, and frustration, but it also gives us the answer to those things…the One who overcame the world.
“In this world, you WILL have trials, tribulations, distress, and frustration, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (emphasis mine)
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“Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him,’One thing you lack. Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.’ But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” Mark 10:21-22
I’ve read the above passage spoken to the rich, young ruler by Jesus many times, but I noticed something new when I read it today…the phrase “loved him”. I think I must have always skimmed over that part before or at least not given it very much thought. When I noticed it, I wondered why it specified that Jesus looked at him and loved him before He answered him. I have no proof of this, but maybe Jesus extended His love to him before He answered because He knew the answer He was about to give was going to be hard for the rich, young ruler to accept. He knew it was not going to be the answer the young man wanted to hear, and He knew it was going to be an answer that would require great sacrifice from the young man. Again, I have nothing to back my theory up with except my own life experiences and I can tell you that when I look back, I can always see how He has extended His love in abundance prior to giving me an answer I didn’t want to hear or one that would require great sacrifice from me or one that was going to be a hard pill to swallow. He loves me all the time, but I know that He lavishes that love on me when I need it the most…and sometimes when I need it the most is when He’s about to tell me something I don’t want to hear. It just makes me wonder if when He’s about to tell us something difficult, if He stops, looks at us, and loves us first.
shani4jc 