On 4th of July vacation, my husband and I went for a
hike. Well, when I say ‘went,’ I mean that we attempted to. I had found a 7mile trail that looked beautiful
in the photos. We arrived at one of the entrances and embarked on our journey.
It was a beautiful morning and unseasonably cool, so I was pleased with this
decision enjoying time together among God’s creation.
I got to thinking, as I do sometimes. Walking and hiking are perfect fodder for explanations about life and
our relationship with our Father. We are on a path; He is guiding, etc.
Then, as I was lost in thought, I noticed that the trail looked different, and
my husband looked confused. Somehow, we had made a wrong turn and ended up in
the dried up riverbank. Thus began our frustrating two-hour episode of trying
to figure out where we were, where we were supposed to be, and how we should
get there.
I had to laugh. Truly this was a metaphor in action, but it was
somewhat difficult to process. Why would
a loving Father allow us to get lost? A few reasons come to mind for Him
allowing this to happen in life. One, is that He allows us to practice our
freedom, even knowing that we might get lost, get hurt, or walk away. How wild
is it that He is willing to risk that we would go away from Him in order for us
to practice our freedom! Second, we learn more about ourselves and what our
strengths and weaknesses are when we struggle. Third, sometimes, we need to
learn how to work things out, with Him as a ‘silent’ guide. No matter what, He’s always there.
This is tough, though. I’m not trying to water it down. It
takes endurance, patience, and persistence. We don’t always have these
characteristics, so we have to learn them. The only way to learn these is to
practice them. It’s annoying to be lost or confused. It’s frustrating to be
where we don’t want to be in life. Can’t we just get there already?!
Maybe ‘there’ is not the point, but the ‘get.’ Could the inner
turmoil, anger, and anxiety be helpful for our journey? Could He allow these? Perhaps, He’s trying to teach us…help us be
vulnerable, grow in humility, grow our listening skills, help us to think or
look at something differently, or maybe put us on our knees, so we will pray
more…talk to Him.
A deeper question might be, “How are we handling instances in life that we cannot change?”
Scripture is full of people’s stories who’ve endured. Two that come to mind are
Sarah in the story of Sarah and Tobiah and Elizabeth and Zechariah. Both of
these situations are very difficult for the people involved. Sarah had lost
seven husbands by the time Tobiah came along. Elizabeth and Zechariah had to deal
with the shame (of the time) of not being able to conceive a child. Is it fair
that Sarah had to go through the deaths of seven men and be deemed unmarriable?
Is it right that Elizabeth could not have a child when she really wanted to? Our Father’s ways don’t always seem fair or
right, but they are always done with love. He’s concerned about our well-being
and hears our everyday prayers, but what He wants most of all is our hearts and
for us to be with Him for eternity. For these, He will do almost anything
to get us there.
These stories are not just from a book; they are from THE Book
and are our stories, too. In both situations, God intervened, eventually. He
sent a messenger and brought great joy. Our Father is telling us that He can
bring joy to our sorrows, too. In both, the people are resurrected: Sarah,
cursed and unmarriable becomes a wife; Elizabeth, the unbarren wife becomes a
mother. Both stories speak of rejoicing:
a wedding feast and new life. Ultimately, this is what our Father is preparing
us for.
In our hiking story, He sent someone, too! We finally ‘ran
into’ another hiker who pointed us in the right direction. We looked at where
we had been, and we embarrassingly found out that after 3 hours, we barely made
it through the path. After we got back to the car, we agreed that it was not
what we had planned, but that it was definitely an adventure. In hindsight,
yes, it caused frustration, a bruised knee and bruised egos, but through us
getting lost, we had to communicate and depend on each other…and laugh. The
situation was an opportunity to get over ourselves.
So, how do we handle what we cannot change? We are free to
choose how we do so. We could get angry and stay there becoming bitter and
blaming God, or we could get angry and then get over it allowing our Father to
do His work in us in the way that He sees fit.
After all, this is what Christ did, and He’s the best guide when comes
to this path. We can allow times of loss
and frustration to overcome us or become an opportunity for the Father to work
through us to overcome.
