Insight

When our will is blunted by God’s wisdom it is always best to retreat back into his grace, adopt the inevitability of his gradualness and wait. My friend, life’s a story, stayed tuned for more on This Passing Day.

If something happens in my life that was unexpected, then I often feel I need to examine the situation in an effort to understand the logic and, in so doing, be able to apply reason to it in order to understand why it happened and for what purpose. Some would say that this is insightful. Perhaps, but in matters of eternal doings, is it? Recently I had the opportunity to make a major change in my life. I prayed over it and after some period of time became quite confident that the Lord would bless my prayers with his approval. He decided that my understanding of need was not his however. Within a day or two, although disappointed, I reconciled myself to his will and began to search his wisdom and believed I had discovered it. Confident, I announced this to my wife Holly. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that I was mistaken once again. Weeks later what I had believed was the divinely ordained outcome was apparently my insight and not his.

Our lives are better served when we avoid speculating on the divine and consigning ourselves to a gradual approach to understanding it. Here’s a story. One day Dwight Morrow and his wife, the parents of Anne Lindbergh, were in Rugby, England. After wandering through the streets they realized that they had lost their way. At this moment an incident occurred that entered into Morrow’s philosophy and became a guiding principle in his life. He stopped a little Rugby lad of about 12 years. “Could you tell us the way to the station?” he asked. “Well,” the boy answered, “You turn to the right there by the grocer’s shop and then take the second street to the left. That will bring you to a place where four streets meet. And then, sir, you had better inquire again.” This answer came to symbolize for Dwight Morrow an object lesson in the inevitability of gradualness. It was also a parable of how, when the ultimate end is uncertain, one should endeavor to advance, if only a little way, in the correct, rather than the incorrect direction. (Bits and Pieces, December 1991, p. 14.)

When we can’t quickly find the answers to our wonderings we are often lured into a sense of discovery that’s misguided. We ask “why” and then pursue the “why” when God is not of a mind to answer the question in the limited time we give him. Our “why” becomes a non sequitur with God, a spiritual non-starter, so to speak. He is not appointed to answer the question, yet we appoint ourselves to fill in the blank. We believe from the start that we know his will, and even when it is apparent that we don’t, we fill in the blank for him, giving him an insight that belongs to us and not to him. When our will is blunted by God’s wisdom it’s always best to retreat back into his grace, adopt the inevitability of his gradualness and wait. Filling in the blank can often provide the wrong answer. It is often better to move on to the next question.

We pray. Heavenly Father, with most things in life we are in a hurry to find out and move on. We want to know your will for us, but so often the answers aren’t there when we want them. Forgive us Lord when we run ahead of your timing because we think we know what you do. Remind us Lord that some things may never be known while others may come in a gradual way without us ever really knowing much at all. May we be abiders and not striders when it comes to knowing you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt 6:34)

Thank you for tuning into This Passing Day. Join us at thispassingday.com. May this PASSING day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don’t let another day pass without your day blessing someone else’s.

If you have a special prayer request, please send your request to “This Passing Day!” <mark@thispassingday.com>. God bless you for Jesus sake.

Insight

When our will is blunted by God’s wisdom it is always best to retreat back into his grace, adopt the inevitability of his gradualness and wait. My friend, life’s a story, stayed tuned for more on This Passing Day.

If something happens in my life that was unexpected, then I often feel I need to examine the situation in an effort to understand the logic and, in so doing, be able to apply reason to it in order to understand why it happened and for what purpose. Some would say that this is insightful. Perhaps, but in matters of eternal doings, is it? Recently I had the opportunity to make a major change in my life. I prayed over it and after some period of time became quite confident that the Lord would bless my prayers with his approval. He decided that my understanding of need was not his however. Within a day or two, although disappointed, I reconciled myself to his will and began to search his wisdom and believed I had discovered it. Confident, I announced this to my wife Holly. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that I was mistaken once again. Weeks later what I had believed was the divinely ordained outcome was apparently my insight and not his.

Our lives are better served when we avoid speculating on the divine and consigning ourselves to a gradual approach to understanding it. Here’s a story. One day Dwight Morrow and his wife, the parents of Anne Lindbergh, were in Rugby, England. After wandering through the streets they realized that they had lost their way. At this moment an incident occurred that entered into Morrow’s philosophy and became a guiding principle in his life. He stopped a little Rugby lad of about 12 years. “Could you tell us the way to the station?” he asked. “Well,” the boy answered, “You turn to the right there by the grocer’s shop and then take the second street to the left. That will bring you to a place where four streets meet. And then, sir, you had better inquire again.” This answer came to symbolize for Dwight Morrow an object lesson in the inevitability of gradualness. It was also a parable of how, when the ultimate end is uncertain, one should endeavor to advance, if only a little way, in the correct, rather than the incorrect direction. (Bits and Pieces, December 1991, p. 14.)

When we can’t quickly find the answers to our wonderings we are often lured into a sense of discovery that’s misguided. We ask “why” and then pursue the “why” when God is not of a mind to answer the question in the limited time we give him. Our “why” becomes a non sequitur with God, a spiritual non-starter, so to speak. He is not appointed to answer the question, yet we appoint ourselves to fill in the blank. We believe from the start that we know his will, and even when it is apparent that we don’t, we fill in the blank for him, giving him an insight that belongs to us and not to him. When our will is blunted by God’s wisdom it’s always best to retreat back into his grace, adopt the inevitability of his gradualness and wait. Filling in the blank can often provide the wrong answer. It is often better to move on to the next question.

We pray. Heavenly Father, with most things in life we are in a hurry to find out and move on. We want to know your will for us, but so often the answers aren’t there when we want them. Forgive us Lord when we run ahead of your timing because we think we know what you do. Remind us Lord that some things may never be known while others may come in a gradual way without us ever really knowing much at all. May we be abiders and not striders when it comes to knowing you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt 6:34)

Thank you for tuning into This Passing Day. Join us at thispassingday.com. May this PASSING day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don’t let another day pass without your day blessing someone else’s.

If you have a special prayer request, please send your request to “This Passing Day!” <mark@thispassingday.com>. God bless you for Jesus sake.