BEING FLEXIBLE FOR GOD
Recently I’ve been
thinking a lot about being mentally flexible. My best friend Jane does my
promotional work, and I call her a river; every time Facebook blocks her from
going one way, she believes for the Lord to show her a different way around.
Our dance with disappointment is brief. We believe “God will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the
desert” (Isaiah 43:19). He always does. That’s why we know we need
to be open to the Holy Spirit guiding us in a different direction if necessary.
When we feel that we’re on
the right track and it’s God’s will, nothing can stop us, but we may have to be
a little flexible in our ideas about how it happens. We can’t be making all
kinds of our own rules about how we think we should always be doing things, or
always be thinking. We need to open our hearts to God and let Him direct our
steps.
Proverbs
16:9 says: “A man's heart deviseth his
way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” In other words, we can get to know what’s really in our
hearts, what we truly want, but only the Lord can help us get there. If we try
to direct our ways, without asking for the Lord’s guidance, it’s not going to
work out as well. The Lord knows the end from the beginning, and we don’t.
Jesus Christ is the leader; we follow. He is very concerned about each
individual’s path.
When we make too many
rules for ourselves, we can become too brittle we break. When something new
comes up, we halt and get mad or scared or both. We get even more determined to
defend our firm beliefs instead of being willing to look at something in a new
way. Instead of staying tender-hearted toward God, we get hard-hearted and
refuse to budge.
That’s what happened to
the Pharisees. They knew it was God’s will to heal people, but they also knew
that the Law of Moses said they weren’t supposed to do any work on the Sabbath.
They became overbearingly inflexible about not working on the Sabbath to the
point that when Jesus went to heal a man on the Sabbath, they couldn’t take it.
They were not going to be flexible about their rules, even when it came to
someone who desperately needed help. They wouldn’t even listen to Jesus:
“And he [Jesus] entered again into the
synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they
watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might
accuse him. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, ‘Stand
forth.’
“And when he had looked round about on
them with anger, being grieved for the hardness [blindness] of their hearts, he
saith unto the man, ‘Stretch forth thine hand.’ And he stretched it out: and
his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and
straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy
him. But Jesus withdrew
himself with his disciples to the sea” (Mark 3:1-7).
I know none of us would
want to be as rigid and ridiculous as the Pharisees. We don’t want to lose
sight of the bigger picture. When obstacles come up against the traditions and
rules we’ve set up, we want to let the Holy Spirit take us around some new
bends in the stream and teach us some new things. It may be more thrilling and
more satisfying than we ever imagined.
Let’s keep our hearts
tender and flexible, open to Lord’s leading, even if it means going in a
slightly different direction or considering something we haven’t taken into
account before. Let the Lord open new doors. The Bible tells us there will
always be things for us to discover if we’re willing. We never know it all, and
that’s a good thing.
Life is to be a flow, not
a stagnant pool. And God delights in being our father, teaching us new things.
He wants us to be thankful to Him for the new things we learn. Just like any
father wants his child to look up to him and appreciate what he teaches him.
God wants the same from us. God will always know more than we do, so we need to
be humble and flexible in our thinking.
Isaiah speaks God’s
message to the people of Israel: “I have shown thee new things from this time,
even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. They are created now, and not from the
beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest
say, Behold, I knew them.”
Let’s keep moving forward
as children of a loving father, God, without fear. He will continue to teach those
of us who are willing to be flexible. He’ll guide us, take care of us, and show
us new things.
Love, Carolyn
QUESTIONS AND EASY
CHALLENGES
1. Have you ever gotten
stiff from standing, sitting, or sleeping in one position for a long time?
Describe it. What action did you take to alleviate the stiffness?
2. Describe a situation
where you had to be more flexible than you maybe wanted to be.
3. Have you been in a
situation where you believed something was right and much later found out it
wasn’t? Describe it.
4. Recall a circumstance
where you or someone you know remained rigid like the Pharisees on some rule
that was kind of foolish.
5. How have you been
flexible in the past month?
6. Are you exploring
anything new in the Bible at the moment? Or anything new in life in general?
What are you learning?
7. Have you ever put
unreasonably rigid rules on yourself? How did it make you feel? What did you do
about it?
This is a sample book with 6 of the 61 chapters
from the complete book. These chapters are true life stories about the
tremendous and varied benefits you can receive from making a commitment to the
Lord. There are pertinent questions at the end of each inspiring story to help
you see where you can apply what you've learned for a more exciting and
satisfying life.
If
you can’t get it on Amazon, let me know, and
I’ll send a pdf or word doc to your email. cjmolica@hotmail.com
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