Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Praying or Whining

I watched my daughter last night struggle to put on her shoes just before we went to bed. After struggling for a while and realising she was not going forward with this, she started screaming in tears; ‘mummy put the shoes on!’ I smiled, knowing that the lights would soon go off, there was really no point putting on the shoes. But she went on and on and on about it. To the point that her screams became a bit irritating to my ears. So what did I do? I helped her with her shoes and turned off the lights. ‘Oh, it’s bed time mummy, take off the shoes!’
A funny analogy, but think about it for a second. Is this a true picture of your life? There are times we feel God has given us a brain so we can use it; and when we’ve tried all and it does not seem to work, we turn and say ‘God take the wheels now!’ And when it does not seem like He is driving (because you are obviously focusing on the circumstances and they seem pretty the same or even worse), you start whining; ‘God are you driving? I said take the wheels; I want you to go this way, or turn around. I don’t like what I see here; I’ll prefer to take this route, it looks like a smooth ride that way…’ And we just go on and on.
I've had so much on my mind lately, having sleepless nights and lacking appetite. But I did come to this point where I realised that I was getting my hairs grey and increasing the wrinkles on my forehead. So I said, ‘Jesus take the wheels’. After being at peace for a few days and things did not seem to change, I knelt down and said, ‘Hello God, it’s me your darling daughter again, at your feet. Just checking, are you still driving? Because this is what I want, and I still can’t see it!’ I did that many times afterwards, till I realised I was whining. This verse came to my heart;

‘do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God’ Philippians 4:6 (ESV)’

Then I started thanking God. “God, here I am again saying thank you. I’m looking at my circumstances, they seem the same, but I know You are at work. You are God irrespective of my circumstances or the challenges I face. You are God irrespective of the way I feel now. You are God alone’. And after a while of still feeling disturbed, I said ‘God, I choose not to look at my circumstances, I praise you because you are working it out for MY GOOD’.
My point here? When we stop looking at the raging winds around us, we can actually settle down and believe God is actually in control even if everything around us seems tumultuous. It’s at that point we can let the peace of God act as an umpire over our souls, hence kicking out every atom of anxiety that wants to come past it. It’s at that point we can confidently thank God without being tempted to whine. Even if it seems like your boat is ‘half capsized’, you can confidently say God is with me, I shall not be moved. Selah
(image source: "http://www.freedigitalphotos.net" target="_blank">FreeDigitalPhotos.net
)