Faith and Folly

Once again and probably not for the last time, God has moved in my life and in the life of my husband to sovereignly close doors we thought He had opened; truthfully, that we hoped we could walk through. The fact that the doors not only closed, but seemed to slam shut, makes for a time of reflection and deep consideration of what God is really doing in our lives, clearly something different than we had anticipated and imagined.

When God acts in our lives against what we expect, we know it isn't because of any imperfection in Him or His purposes or plan. But, we can be certain that there is always the possibility that we have erred in some way, lacked discernment or simply taken our eyes off Him for a second, lost our footing and stumbled. It happens. We're all still learning and there will be bumps and bruises in the process. We are being perfected, but for now, we are far from perfect!

Even as we stumble, I believe God is pleased with our desire to please Him. And if He recognizes even an inkling of sincerity in our hearts to follow His will above our own, He will show His great love for us by refusing to give us anything that might detract from our utter dependence upon Him.

When, in our weakness, we begin to fall into the subtle trap of worldly wisdom, He will protect us, albeit sometimes painfully, by cutting us off and drawing us once again to surrender.

Paul tells the Corinthians in his first letter, "Has not God shown up the nonsense and the folly of this world's wisdom?" And he reminds them that though it may be filled with many great philosophies about how to get along in and manage life, "the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God" (v. 20-21).

My prayer is that I will not resist God's hand in my life. There seem to be more secure ways to live by the world's standard, but I acknowledge the folly of that security and long for God to protect me from ever being in a place where I fail to perceive and recognize and know Him. Sometimes His hand comes toward me as if to strike, only to set itself around me like a shield.