A Classic Case of Human Nature

We see what we want to see and ignore all the red flags.
 
When you want something to work out so badly that you overlook potential dangers to make it happen. You discount the inner checks that tell you not to proceed. You might even hear a friend’s voice behind you say, “Go left not right.” Ach, if only you’d registered their words, listened, and gone left then you might not have experienced the drama, distraction, or frustration that erupted. And while God often protects us from greater danger even when we do make the wrong choice or bullheadedly push our will our way, we might not come out of it without some suffering.
 
I’ve been pondering lately on choices. The many times when I’ve done just that. I saw what I wanted to see and ignored the flaming flags warning me this isn’t the right thing, the right situation, the right choice for me. Yet before I know it, I’m involved. Or things get complicated the longer I don’t deal with something I know is less than ideal. When the proverbial elephant in the room is trashing my space and peace, and I don’t know how to manage it. By my denial I may’ve created a monster.

 

If you maintain hope that conditions will improve and they don’t improve, then you may just be living in a state of languishing. One of the dictionary terms for languishing is failing to make progress or be successful. Another one is a state of being weak, feeble, or enervated… this by feeling unfulfilled or unmotivated. An example was given of how plants need sunlight to grow or they’ll become weak. Comparatively, people can be drained of vitality if they don’t get optimistic emotional boosts every now and then.

 

But sunlight comes and goes, and if a plant doesn’t receive enough then it can die. The weather is temperamental and we can’t control it, so what can a plant do but be a plant and accept the conditions? People on the other hand can take matters into their own hands, they can end things, begin things, change things, sell things, or remain still and hope for a rainbow promise from God. You might find yourself wishing that he’d take care of something for you, clear the mess you’ve made. Or maybe rescue you from a binding situation you got yourself into, be the hero over your broken-down or screwy whatnot; swoop in and fix it—whatever it is. I suppose if you were a plant, you wish he’d dig you up and plant you somewhere else where there’s more sunlight and you can grow better and feel stronger.

 

Maybe sometimes he will do that for us. But a rainbow promise really is a symbol of divine assurance of his mercy, reminding his children (like Noah) of his faithfulness and his enduring love. But that doesn’t mean that we didn’t make mistakes along the way, that we didn’t endure the worst storm in history, thought we’d die from seasickness, or that when we finally do get to jump ship we don’t land super ugly on that rain’s 40-days-and-nights’ muddy slope.

 

The point of this blog is to pay heed to the red flags. Those inner checks you sense that you’re tempted to ignore or suppress is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. It might be through a hush, but it’s there and worthy to regard. It’s the Spirit God gave us to guide us through this life and to be our comforter. Because the Lord knew we’d need it. A classic case of humans being humans and needing a savior to bail us out of torment. I feel there are a lot of people facing big decisions right now. It just seems like it’s a very transitional time, perhaps a stormy season. You might be tempted to go one way when something has prodded you to go the other.

 

Don’t trust your heart, hearts are deceptive. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” But you can trust your gut. Because this acknowledges that inner voice or feeling instilled in each of us, which I believe is a divine prompt, a nudge from the Holy Spirit.

 

Maybe you’ve done everything right or have made all the right choices in life and have known nothing else but sitting pretty. So there you are in a comfortable, favorable, and advantageous situation. Good for you! Seriously. But if you’re like me, you’ve made some mistakes, have taken a few wrong turns, made erroneous assumptions. Maybe you’re even dealing with the lot of them all at once and for so long that you feel like you’re in a languishing state of mind and don’t know how to break out of the cycle.

 

There’s one way ➡️ to be free from those mental or emotional challenges. Although circumstances might take a while to wade through. I’m sure when Noah’s boat came to rest after the horrendous rains, it took some time for things to dry up, or for him to know that it was okay to disembark. In fact, Genesis 8:13 in the New Living Translation says, “Noah was now 601 years old. On the first day of the new year, ten and a half months after the flood began, the floodwaters had almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the covering of the boat and saw that the surface of the ground was drying.” So here it is… If we put our trust in God our Maker, seek wisdom through prayer and reflection, read the Living Word, then eventually we’ll get from languishing to flourishing. Or in Noah’s cabin-fever case, from overcast days and flooded land to sunlit springs and plant sustaining ground that he can also get around on without sliding on his butt.

 

Reasoning without God’s guidance can lead to error. “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.” That’s Proverbs 28:26, and that’s not subtle.

 

And this, “Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you,” from Psalm 37:5—doesn’t mean he’ll do it today or overnight. But he will help you if you trust him. Another version puts it this way: “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.” While another says, “bring it to pass.” The key is to commit your way, to trust him. To LISTEN TO HIS VOICE whether it’s by a field of red flags you sense in your soul that’re whipping in the winds of an approaching storm, a small hush like a quiet whisper, or a friend’s mindful offering: “Go left not right” to avoid what they know is hidden around the bend be they rabid dogs or some other unpredictable danger.

 

Maybe we can get to a place of always seeing—not what we want to see but what God wants to see. Maybe we can get to an even better place of wanting the same thing as our Maker, to see the same and want the same together. I have a hunch, a sense, a feeling, a nudge from the Holy Spirit that The Good Book is telling us THAT is what it means to flourish. When we can give our human nature over for something more divine. From chaos to order, confusion to clarity, bondage to freedom, despair to hope, sickness to healing, anger to forgiveness, weakness to strength, depression to purpose, sadness to joy. You get the idea. I believe in us.