An abundance of Caution.
Today's post will make much more sense if you know your Bible well. If you don't, go find it, blow the dust off it (you have one, you know you do!) and read Judges 6-8 about Gideon.
Gideon heard from God and asked for a sign. Then he asked for another sign just to validate the first sign by reversing the first sign. Fleece was involved.
On Wednesday I decided to commit to do something. Not something specific, but SOMETHING about what was on my heart. It's been bugging me for months, but getting worse lately. And that's when things started to really go right. In my life when I'm not following God, that's when the wheels seem to fall off the train. The thing is that it's something I have no absolute clue about why I need to go this way right now, but apparently I do. I think.
I'm operating here out of an over-abundance of caution.
Something has been on my heart since February. I've tried to ignore it. I've tried to explain it away as many things. I've blogged about how the thing started with a dream and how I'm fighting because besides it making no sense whatsoever, I can't seem to reconcile it and God's word in a way I'd like to. I can justify it but to do so is walking on the razor's edge of other scripture. I don't like anybody twisting Scripture to meet one's own selfish needs and I'm not going to do so myself.
So I talk to God about this frequently. It's on my heart and then on my mind and it's like a toothache that won't go away. It doesn't interrupt my day but it's there constantly. And I'm really trying not to wind up misunderstanding what's going on around me and what I should do about it. It's been going on for months. So a month or so ago, I asked God for a sign. I made up a number in my head and said that if I saw that number on a license plate on a car from a state that would have significance to my quandry, then I'd know it was from Him.
On Thursday, I decided to try and test the waters about this thing. I did something. And right now, that something is just kind of hanging out in space waiting for an answer. I kind of need to really talk to a human being about this but the only one that can give me the information I really need is incommunicado right now. So, things start going right after I decided on Wednesday to do something. A 1/4" thread hexagon nut survived a 16 mile trip on the hood of my truck on Thursday (at speeds of 55mph). That nut went to my park brake mechanism. I had one to hold it on temporarily but I needed that particular nut to go back where it came from and I lost it for a bit. That's what I mean about going right.
On Friday, I helped a friend out for a couple of hours. We had to make a trip to Lowe's and he went one way to get something and I went another way. While I was looking for a specific type of hacksaw, I couldn't help but notice a woman walking by. And that's when the thought popped into my head that if this thing that I've had on my mind were to come to pass, then I needed to not be window shopping. I can't describe it better than that and it carried on through my day and is still on my mind. I noticed that through my travels since that nobody's really turning my head. It's like that covenant Job talks about that he made with his eyes not to look at another except his wife. That's good advice, by the way for my married and committed friends. Anyway, to continue the story...
I accidentally left my multi-tool at my friend's house house. I keep one in the truck at all times. They're great fishing accessories because you can use the pliers to remove hooks and the knife to gut the fish. I keep another in the shed at church so I can thread the spool on the weed eater and cut the line. Since I was going fishing on Saturday, I wanted to take the tool with me so I decided to run down to the church.
You see where this is going, right?
On the journey, I was talking to God about this whole thing. If I can't put God in the middle of this situation, at the point of the triangle, as it were, then the thing on my heart is NOT for me. I mean that. There's no room for error here. If it's not from God, then it's not for me. And when it has to do with something that God had previously said NO! to then I'm acting on an extra over abundance of caution about. And in mid-sentence that's when I saw it: Wyoming 4-1953.
My sign I'd asked God for.
I have never been left utterly speechless before! I stopped in mid-sentence. My jaw dropped open. At this point, words escaped me. Um.... that's a pretty specific request and one I just made up out of my tiny little pea brain. Maybe I'm starting to see that this is really from above. But then I heard a radio program that reminded me of a Bible verse in 1 Peter that kept me saying NO! (maybe I should have said yes?)
Things happen to me all the time. This one takes the cake. But I'm still unsure and acting out of an abundance of caution. But to drive the point home, as I was returning from the church to my house, as I turned up 36th Street from Harrison Blvd, there was a red car with Wyoming plates on it. The number: 4-19531.
Gideon heard from God and asked for a sign. Then he asked for another sign just to validate the first sign by reversing the first sign. Fleece was involved.
On Wednesday I decided to commit to do something. Not something specific, but SOMETHING about what was on my heart. It's been bugging me for months, but getting worse lately. And that's when things started to really go right. In my life when I'm not following God, that's when the wheels seem to fall off the train. The thing is that it's something I have no absolute clue about why I need to go this way right now, but apparently I do. I think.
I'm operating here out of an over-abundance of caution.
Something has been on my heart since February. I've tried to ignore it. I've tried to explain it away as many things. I've blogged about how the thing started with a dream and how I'm fighting because besides it making no sense whatsoever, I can't seem to reconcile it and God's word in a way I'd like to. I can justify it but to do so is walking on the razor's edge of other scripture. I don't like anybody twisting Scripture to meet one's own selfish needs and I'm not going to do so myself.
So I talk to God about this frequently. It's on my heart and then on my mind and it's like a toothache that won't go away. It doesn't interrupt my day but it's there constantly. And I'm really trying not to wind up misunderstanding what's going on around me and what I should do about it. It's been going on for months. So a month or so ago, I asked God for a sign. I made up a number in my head and said that if I saw that number on a license plate on a car from a state that would have significance to my quandry, then I'd know it was from Him.
On Thursday, I decided to try and test the waters about this thing. I did something. And right now, that something is just kind of hanging out in space waiting for an answer. I kind of need to really talk to a human being about this but the only one that can give me the information I really need is incommunicado right now. So, things start going right after I decided on Wednesday to do something. A 1/4" thread hexagon nut survived a 16 mile trip on the hood of my truck on Thursday (at speeds of 55mph). That nut went to my park brake mechanism. I had one to hold it on temporarily but I needed that particular nut to go back where it came from and I lost it for a bit. That's what I mean about going right.
On Friday, I helped a friend out for a couple of hours. We had to make a trip to Lowe's and he went one way to get something and I went another way. While I was looking for a specific type of hacksaw, I couldn't help but notice a woman walking by. And that's when the thought popped into my head that if this thing that I've had on my mind were to come to pass, then I needed to not be window shopping. I can't describe it better than that and it carried on through my day and is still on my mind. I noticed that through my travels since that nobody's really turning my head. It's like that covenant Job talks about that he made with his eyes not to look at another except his wife. That's good advice, by the way for my married and committed friends. Anyway, to continue the story...
I accidentally left my multi-tool at my friend's house house. I keep one in the truck at all times. They're great fishing accessories because you can use the pliers to remove hooks and the knife to gut the fish. I keep another in the shed at church so I can thread the spool on the weed eater and cut the line. Since I was going fishing on Saturday, I wanted to take the tool with me so I decided to run down to the church.
You see where this is going, right?
On the journey, I was talking to God about this whole thing. If I can't put God in the middle of this situation, at the point of the triangle, as it were, then the thing on my heart is NOT for me. I mean that. There's no room for error here. If it's not from God, then it's not for me. And when it has to do with something that God had previously said NO! to then I'm acting on an extra over abundance of caution about. And in mid-sentence that's when I saw it: Wyoming 4-1953.
My sign I'd asked God for.
I have never been left utterly speechless before! I stopped in mid-sentence. My jaw dropped open. At this point, words escaped me. Um.... that's a pretty specific request and one I just made up out of my tiny little pea brain. Maybe I'm starting to see that this is really from above. But then I heard a radio program that reminded me of a Bible verse in 1 Peter that kept me saying NO! (maybe I should have said yes?)
Things happen to me all the time. This one takes the cake. But I'm still unsure and acting out of an abundance of caution. But to drive the point home, as I was returning from the church to my house, as I turned up 36th Street from Harrison Blvd, there was a red car with Wyoming plates on it. The number: 4-19531.
Be careful of what you ask for if you are not totally ready for the answer in which you might receive. Your question may have had a NO answer before because it was not in His will at that moment. The Bible never said that No means No forever!
ReplyDelete