I mean come on…they tell you all the time and if they don’t outright tell you they sure think it. The roll of the eyes when you tell them something or the “I know mom!”. Agreeing with you to your face and then doing whatever you told them not to behind your back. Kids fail to understand that parents were kids once so we know the bad that can happen. We truly know and want what’s best for them even if they don’t think we do.
So I’m sure most parents will agree with most, if not all, of what you just read. So if you know that and you deal with it everyday why do many of us act like we know more than our Father in Heaven? Oh wait. You thought this was going to be a rant about kids didn’t you? Well it is except in these case…we are the children.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
I will be the first to admit that, on several occasions, I have uttered the words “Why won’t they just listen?!”. Then finally God said to me “Why would they listen to you? You won’t even listen to Me.” That put everything into perspective. God truly knows what is best for us and and knows the right path to take but we, like stubborn children, want to take a different path. Even if the other path seems shorter or easier it doesn’t make it the right path. Maybe God’s path is longer or harder because we have to learn something along the way before we reach our destination. A lesson that is not included on the shorter easier path.
I will also be the first to admit that somethings I just don’t like God’s way. I mean it is hard! But, you know what? There has not been a single time that I took God’s path that I didn’t learn a valuable lesson. A lesson that either made the destination that much better or equipped me to handle the destination. Likewise, every time I do it “my way” I either fail miserably or the outcome just wasn’t what I expected.
“Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;
Jeremiah 10:23 NIV
it is not for them to direct their steps.”
It calls to mind my favorite poem since I was a child. “Footprints”…
One night I dreamed a dream. I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord.
When the last scene of my life shot before me I looked back at the footprints in the sand. There was only one set of footprints. I realized that this was at the lowest and saddest times of my life. This always bothered me and I questioned the Lord about my dilemma.
“Lord, You told me when I decided to follow You, You would walk and talk with me all the way. But I’m aware that during the most troublesome times of my life there is only one set of footprints. I just don’t understand why, when I need You most, You leave me.”
He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”
So when times seem tough or things don’t seem to be going right in your life maybe it’s because you are trying to take your own path or relying on your own understanding. Instead, let God carry you down the right path. Who knows? Maybe things will turn out better than you could have imagined.