Days come and go....as do the roller coasters in life....sometimes we will have a set of circumstances that muddy up our waters so that we're not seeing clearly through the lens of life that God has given us...and sometimes when we make decisions during those cloudy times, there are untoward ripple effects upon others around us....others get hurt....we get hurt....others take offense....we take offense....and the walls go up....not only between us and others, but sometimes even between us and God....and if the waters become cloudy enough, we may not even know the direction in which we are to continue going...our priorities become muddied in life.
Then come the questions that we ask ourselves....and if we are brave enough, we may even ask of someone else....what do I do?....how do I get out of this?....how can I fix this?....who do I see?...etc, etc. And the spinning begins, and we lose our compass point, our rudder, our sail....and we just wallow in the pit of muddied waters.
So what do we do?!?!?!?! It's really not that difficult. The muddied waters may seem to be too deep to see a way out of the situation, but all we really need to do is to stand up. I like the way Jesus managed the scenario when He was being questioned left and right by the Sadduccees, and Jesus was answering with an even keel, and then one the more learned teachers of the religious law came up to Him with a question.
Mark 12:28-34
28One of the religion scholars came up. Hearing the lively exchanges of question and answer and seeing how sharp Jesus was in his answers, he put in his question: "Which is most important of all the commandments?"
29-31Jesus said, "The first in importance is, 'Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these."
32-33The religion scholar said, "A wonderful answer, Teacher! So lucid and accurate—that God is one and there is no other. And loving him with all passion and intelligence and energy, and loving others as well as you love yourself. Why, that's better than all offerings and sacrifices put together!"
34When Jesus realized how insightful he was, he said, "You're almost there, right on the border of God's kingdom."
After that, no one else dared ask a question.
If we choose to "Get Right With God" (Commandment # 1) and "Get Right With Others" (Commandment # 2), then all else will fall into place. Jesus is our compass point....our rudder....our sail. When we are wallowing in the pit of muddied waters, we need to re-set our compass point to "Get Right With God" and "Get Right With Others". To do otherwise is to try and take control of the circumstances of our own accord....and oh my, oh my....that is how we run our ship into the underlying reef. Been there, done that, folks. And, admittedly, still do. Praise the Lord that He is always there to forgive me...and you.
Praying for you,
Ron
