...Dichotomies
We live in a world of dichotomies. Absolutes. You can’t be both at the same time.
Up Down
Left Right
Stop Go
On Off
Day Night
Hot Cold
Young Old
Employed Unemployed
Married Not married
Mine Not mine
Right now I find myself living in a grey area of two absolutes. Waiting on information that will tell me what to expect next. I find myself praying, begging, for the best case scenario. The best case for me. And while I’m seeking and trusting, I keep coming back to two different stories in the Bible.
The first is from 2 Samuel 12:16-22. David has murdered a man, taken his wife, and now his child from that adultery is ill. “David pleaded with God for the child…..The Lord may be gracious to me.” Despite facing dire consequences that David brought on himself, he took his faith to God. And when the child died, David accepted the will of God.
The other is found in Luke 11:5-8. Jesus tells the story of a man who needs bread for guests. It’s the middle of the night and he goes to ask his friend. The friend is in bed and doesn’t want to be disturbed. However, “because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.”
This is my dichotomy. Pleading and knowing I will have to accept the will of God AND knowing His love for me as He allows my persistence.
Because verse 10 goes on to say “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Not because of our sin and consequences. Not because our pleading wears Him down. But because His mercy and goodness is weighed with love. And I will choose to worship Him, not because He gives me what I want or think is best. But because He is the creator and I am the created. His ways are eternal. I am a vapor. He is worthy to be praised whether I walk as David or walk as the neighbor. I choose His will even if it breaks my heart.
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