Friday, July 22, 2016

Psalms 31:3 -- On God's Guidance and Avoiding Alligators

"For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me."
Psalms 31:3


This reminded me of the song "I am a Child of God," and I think because of that it struck me how humble we have to be to really ask God to lead us.  We so often don't want anyone to lead us... we want to go our own way, and we only come back and plead with God when we find out that we've been working towards a dead end, or a cliff, or angry alligators.  And even then, instead of asking him which way to go, we plead for dynamite or a hang glider or a magic portal so we can force our own way, instead of actually looking at God's map and seeing if we can find the way back to true happiness.

So, let's remember some other stories, so that maybe we can predict how our own will go.  Remember Jonah, when he tried to ignore the Lord and go his own way?  Or Laman and Lemuel trying to guide the boat to the promised land without God's guidance?  Whales and storms and nothing good.  Somehow we get it into our heads that life is all about us, and that God, and the world, and our parents, and basically everyone, should modify themselves to fit into our worldview, and that we should be supported in whatever we choose to do.  Instead, somewhere we have to face the reality that God's worldview is the *actual* reality, and our perspectives are all quite tainted with pride... thinking we're right so much that we can't see how distorted our vision is.

Today, let's not wait for the whale or the storm or the alligators to force us to modify our perspective.  Let's go to God and ask him to lead us and guide us.  Let's talk to him about all of our decisions and really consider all of our options rather than just asking for one and being unwilling to accept anything else.  God loves us, and he will lead us to happiness and peace, but we have to be willing to follow his map, and not try our own ill-fated shortcuts.

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