Today I learned something new.
After being troubled for weeks over a situation that seemed impossible to resolve, God broke into my thoughts and fixed “it.” The problem was conflict between believers.
Conflict weighs heavier on Christ-followers since we instinctively know we are called to be in unity with other believers, even before we know about Ephesians 4 or John 17:23 – I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.
I don’t want to betray details and people, but I have a recommendation for all Christ-followers.
Try to let God do the heavy lifting next time you are facing a pesky puzzling problem. Warning: He won’t respond immediately, but if you ask, (like the neighbor who keeps knocking in the night for a loaf of bread in Luke 11:5-18,) then He will answer. Sometimes decades later; sometimes seconds.
The indeterminable time period of His answering reminds me of a lesson He taught me about ten years ago. It’s in these posts on the THEO web site, “My active God hears you.”
We knock. We ask. We petition. We might even beg.
He hears. He acts. He moves.
But His timetable is not ours.
And He is not obligated to reveal His actions or movement. Sometimes He never tips His hand to confirm He got the message…. But nonetheless, our loving God is active and hearing. Bank on those three characteristics.
Today, after my problem was solved, I could run far and long, even fast, for it is as if the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders, even before I’ve seen Him dissolve it.
Consider, if you are feeling troubled and unable to figure out how to fix some trouble, perhaps that means you are facing a God-sized problem, not one human-sized. Give it to Him, talk to Him, but then wait.
You may have to repeat this cycle. Or perhaps your faith is stronger than mine. You will know if you can patiently wait and remain in that weightless problem-free zone BEFORE you SEE His solution with your own eyes. Not me. I tend to pick it up and again and again to look for my own solution.
I only give it up permanently when I wake up to notice the size of my problem, i.e. weight, is more than I can bare. Then, only then, I resign. I then give it up for good and leave it in His court.
It seems I only can leave it with Him permanently in its unresolved state when I identify a problem’s size – God-sized or Terri-sized?
Again, take my advice. Let God do your heavy lifting. He wants to. It may be that your problems are smaller than mine, or maybe you are smarter and stronger than I am? But I’d guess not…so talk to Him!