The Solution

Aug 19, 2015 | 6 comments

I’ve been praying all wrong.

Last night God whispered through my shouts.

Last night I was holding on so tight, begging for resolution that didn’t come.

I asked Him, “Why?”

He pried my hands lose so He could hold them.

He said, “Stop limiting me.”

I said, “Why aren’t you fixing this? I mean, I’m trying to trust you and all, but why aren’t you fixing this?”

He said, “Who says I’m not?”

I stomped. I pointed. I whined.

I said, “Because it’s not fixed! I can see it’s not fixed. How am I supposed to trust you when you’re not fixing what you said you’d fix?”

He said, again, “Who said I’m not?”

I turned my back and hummphed at Him.

I said, “Because it’s not fixed.”

He said, “What does ‘fixed’ look like to you?”

So I told Him.

Then He said, “That’s different than what it looks like to Me.”

I said, “Yeah. Your ‘fix’ isn’t the same. So it’s not fixed!”

He said, “So you have a problem.”

I said, “Yes, I do.”

Then He asked, “And you also have the solution?”

I said, “Of course not. That’s why I’m coming to you.”

He said, “So you have a problem. And you don’t have a solution. but you ‘know’ my solution isn’t working because you can’t see the ‘fix’. Is that it?”

I got angry. “Yes! That’s it!”

He said, “So you know what ‘fixed’ looks like. And you’ve been asking me to ‘fix’ this problem according to your vision.”

I said, “Yup. That’s right. So here’s my problem. Fix it. Fix it this way.”

And He said, “I’ve been trying to fix it. But you’re asking for the wrong solution.”

I said, “I’m confused.”

And I’m pretty sure He laughed. Gently, but He laughed.

“I know,” He said. “You have a problem, and you think you also have the solution. But you can’t have both. One precludes the other.”

Of course, I wanted to be snippy and say, “Oh, God. You just think you know everything don’t you?”

But of course, He does.

And I don’t.

So I stepped back.

And He was right.

My prayers aren’t answered because they’re the wrong prayers. They’re not answered, because I’m not giving Him the chance.

If I have the solution, I no longer have the problem. If I have the problem, obviously my solution doesn’t work.

I have to take myself out of the Solution Box.

And a funny thing happens when I do.

It gives God room to fill it.

HIS way.

And let’s face it.

Dad’s way is best.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.” (Ecclesiastes 11:5)

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19)

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

The Bending Tree

And Frankly, My Dear . . . that’s all she wrote.