Kathi Pelton
There are two narratives to choose from in our lives: God’s or the enemy’s.
The enemy speaks a narrative that is a far more familiar message to what the world has taught us to live by. It is based on rational thinking, sight, circumstances, works, human strength and the wisdom of man.
God speaks a narrative that is full of mysteries, impossibilities, a wisdom that is based on grace and truths that are mere foolishness apart from faith.
I often hear believers say that they don’t hear the voice of God. Often this is because they have become so familiar with the narrative of the world and the voice of reason that the mysteries of God’s ways are doubted and strange. Yet, when the believer begins to weigh that Voice with Biblical truths and step out in faith to follow it they discover that the foolishness of God is wiser than any human wisdom that they have followed.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. 1 Corinthians 1:25
The enemy is far too excited to shout accusations against God and His character to those who hold fast to the demand to understand His ways according to what their eyes see and the thoughts understandi. But the renewed mind knows, without doubting, that there is no circumstantial proof that puts the goodness of God or His faithfulness in question. No longer is there a demand to “understand” according to the flesh but a yielded heart that by faith declares His righteousness and goodness in the midst of both joys and sorrows.
Much of the disillusionment that believers are stuck in at this time comes from listening to the all too familiar narrative of the world and of the “god of this world”. When God becomes our portion and prize there is no longer room made for disappointment and disillusionment. There is no disappointment in Him and within seeking Him first we also discover that all things are added to us.
When my husband and I were newly married we set out on our first “steps of faith” as a married couple by moving to another state to go to Bible college. We didn’t have jobs arranged, money beyond what we needed to get there or anyone we knew there. We were both so excited to walk out our faith.
After we arrived we discovered that we had missed figuring in an mmediate financial need that would prevent us from going any further. We quickly went from faith to fear. We had never been this way before and tried to figure out what we could do to remedy the situation by human understanding. We spent 24 hours hitting a wall every time we thought of a new angle. That first Sunday during worship my young husband went to the altar to pray while I stayed in the pew feeling very alone in the midst of thousands of strangers. I looked around to see the crowd and my eye caught sight of a white haired man walking down the center aisle. He caught my attention not because of his white hair but because he wore a trench coat on a very hot and humid July day. As he walked down the aisle my eyes followed his steps. I was captured with curiosity. When he came near the row that I was sitting in, he squeezed past the people and walked straight up to me. He said to me,
“I have been sent here to give this to you.”
He placed in my hand the exact amount of money that we were in need of. Then he turned around and left the building.
The narrative of the world was to be gripped by fear and dread because sight said that we had missed it and there was no one to help us. God’s narrative was,
“Trust Me and watch what I will do.”
He sent an angel to do what we could not do for ourselves as we epped out in faith to follow Him. This type of miraculous intervention and provision has marked our lives more often than we can count and taught us to rest in the wisdom of God even when circumstances dictate another story.
With God everything is upside down from the way it is with the world. His Word and His Spirit are the “instruments” or “gauges” that we depend on to direct us. The right with God is wrong with the world, the “go” with God is the “stop” with the world, left is right and right is left…even weakness is strength! It’s disorienting at first but what a joy it becomes when the burden of figuring things out with human understanding and working with our limited strength is replaced by the grace and wisdom of God.
The following words are the foolishness by which we live by and find our truth in,
“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”” 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Dare to follow the voice of truth and the narrative of God. You will find rest for your soul and joy in your journey. His ways are not our ways…THEY ARE HIGHER!
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