Obeying God can require counterintuitive decisions. For instance, he may point out that the only person you’ve ever loved might not be good for you. Then he sits back and waits for your decision.
He sends no flash of lightning nor does he greatly influence your choice. He simply waits after giving you enough data to make an informed decision.
In my mind, I imagine what I want and what God plans for me as two worlds existing in parallel; one rarely disturbing the other and both quite legitimate. For instance, those who make money through excessive self-centric hard work and those who maintain a culture of service, will both eventually gain wealth and success. But their methodologies are different. The experiences and rewards are dissimilar.
God’s route rarely seems to make sense initially. It’s clearer with the benefit of hindsight. On earth, output is rarely commensurate with input. The stress of doing things right doesn’t appear worth it, if you consider immediate gain alone. There’s always a cheaper and faster alternative. The promise that all accounts will finally be settled in the afterlife, is therefore a very real expectation for Christians. Like Apostle Paul said, “If there is no afterlife, then Christians are of all men, most miserable”!
At times, God even makes impossible demands! Someone close to you dies and in your grief, God asks that you do something for him. You’re like, “God, how could you be so insensitive! I’m mourning!” It is at that point that we take offence and label God, unfair. However, in the parallel world, both items might be truly unrelated. Kind of like how in the Military, when a job has to be done, you put aside personal stuff and just get it done. That’s the unglamorous life of a soldier. However, God is far from uncaring. It is his comfort and peace that see us through tough times.
I’ve had to grapple with counterintuitive decisions in the past. One thing I’ve learnt along the way is to confront them. The issues return until I choose – one way or another. And, I must be fully committed to my choice or I’ll second guess myself.
Oftentimes, all I can do is to let go of fear and to throw myself at the Master’s feet in humility, pleading for mercy. I set aside my intellect for his wisdom and hope everything works out for the best.
PS: For related thoughts, read Multidimensional God.
[bctt tweet=”God’s route doesn’t seem to make sense initially. It requires the benefit of hindsight. On earth, output is rarely commensurate with input in the near term.” username=”@subomiplumptre”]
First off, I love the ‘siddon look’ image because I think it’s so accurate. He knows that we know what we need to do – He just waits to see if we have the courage to do it. The courage of our convictions.
You’re right, decision time is like the proverbial bad penny, it always turns up, no matter what. And I think the real kick of it is that it often comes at a ‘make or break’ time – a point in your life where the decision you make is directly connected to what your future will look like. I think I am better at recognising those times now than I used to be, but actually biting the bullet and making the decision really hasn’t gotten easier. You’re right, you do need friends at such times – but I have learned that friends are rarely truly objective, and very often refuse to dig deep for someone else’s ‘issue’. So at the end of the day, I’ve learned that it down to my God and I. I need to square it with Him and I need to square it with myself. And then I take a deep breath and a firm step forward, and I try not to look back. Like you said, total commitment is necessary in order to make the best of what lies ahead.
I think the great thing about God is that making the wrong decision at crunch time is not the end of the road – there may be difficult consequences and it will usually cost you something, but there will be a chance for you to learn and try again. Of course, it’s so much wiser and better to take the right path the first time.
PS Would you by any chance be interested in participating in the Carnival on my blog? If so, please check it out for details. Thanks
Counterintuitive Decisions? One of the most difficult topic I would have to ponder on cause the topic speak volume but we know our left from right, that why we have sin and forgiveness so on matter the decision we take it have way of catching up with us (either positive or negative) so if you siddon look in essence not doing the right thing it will always catch up with one directly or indirectly