Thursday, June 1, 2017

WONDERING AS I WANDER

 
Today, my hubs and I had a rather Twilight-Zone-ish experience.  All we wanted was to use a gift card to dine out at a favorite local restaurant.  We drove the 20 minutes, zoomed into the parking lot, and saw … a ghostly building with a “closed permanently” sign on the front door.  What a drag.  Oh well, we’ll just Google the address of the second restaurant on the gift card.  And by golly, this restaurant ALSO was permanently closed!  Whaaaat?  Ok, the third restaurant on the card we KNEW was open because we’d eaten there a couple of weeks ago.  We drove another 20 minutes and arrived at a very closed building, but for this day only, for preventative repairs.  By now, my stomach is gurgling and my blood sugar is starting to dive, and those little peppermint patties in my purse are siren-calling to me. I’m muttering in my mind that this is too hard, we should just go home and have a double-decker p.butter/jelly.  We forget about the gift card and head for another favorite reliable restaurant … you guessed it.  Finally, luck came with #5, where we indulged in something breaded, cheesy, and gooey.  I desired a huge chocolate cake to finish off the meal, mostly to sublimate my confusion and low-level frustration, but I refrained from cake today.

 

Why am I dragging you along for this ride, you ask?  Because, as usual, in my pondering of bad “luck” the Lord showed me to myself.  Again.  As I insolently  asked Him, “so, exactly what was I supposed to learn from this runaround today?” and He said, “go sit in a corner with my Word and think about it.”

 

Ya know how when you’re reading in the Old Testament about the wandering, grumbling, disobedient Israelites in the desert for 40 years, and you think to yourself, “well, I would never behave that way.”  Really?  Pride, much?  I then saw a gross similarity between me and them.  I was wanting to go home and have pb&j.  They wanted to go back to Egypt where all the yummy food was (Exodus 16:2-3).  I grumbled about running in circles all over town for an hour, dodging road construction.  They “were impatient because of the journey” and dodging the Lord’s disciplinary lessons (Numbers 21:45).  Oh yeah, I’m waaaaay more righteous and pious than those guys.

 

My God, how I thank You, first for causing me to ask You for your purpose (even though with an attitude).  And second, for Your immediate answer.  I thank You that I needn’t worry about dying in the wilderness as immediate punishment for my attitude, because I know that You have already permanently transferred me to your Kingdom.  I need fear no divine vengeance from You, knowing that your loving divine discipline is for my good and Your glory.  I praise Your patience and tender mercy in dealing with me, your whiny child, teaching me to whine less, glorify me less, and praise You more.

10 comments:

  1. WOW ! This is "good stuff!" I join you in praising our Father for His love, care and patience with us even when we are impatient grumblers.....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, I wrote a poem titled, "I Don't Wonder as I Wander." I shall blog post it and share it with you someday. I am grateful for Christian blogs such as yours.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You have such a wonderful way of looking at even the smallest moments in our day to day lives and finding Biblical lessons in them! I admire your talent so much and have forwarded this to several friends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm happy to think that what He teaches me can edify others. He's so good.

      Delete
  4. We can learn so much when we open our hearts and minds to God. I had a similar situation this week, different, but similar. It's crazy how we can see God work in our inconveniences and annoyances. He is so good.

    ReplyDelete
  5. SO important that we have a Christ-like attitude, even as we're going through stuff in our lives!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is so true! In many ways I am no different from those stiff necked people that God led all over the wilderness. Sometimes, I feel like I am wandering in the wilderness too, but He is always so gentle and so willing to show me what His purposes are for the run around. It's all to make us more like Jesus and dependent on Him. Thanks for sharing! - Amy
    http://stylingrannymama.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. it is so important to listen to what he is speaking to us

    ReplyDelete
  8. It is so cool to me when things like this happen and suddenly we hear God's voice and realize what he wants us to hear. I cannot believe all of those restaurants were closed lol, but at least it put you closer to God!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love the parallels you were able to draw after being obedient to the Father. Thank you for your words!

    ReplyDelete