The new "forbidden fruit" is to be so well-planned and organized that we leave no room for the Holy Spirit to move and direct us. Come to think about it, that's not "new," in fact, it's the same issue that was at the heart of Eve's curiosity about "that one tree from which we cannot eat."
Eve wanted more than what the Lord had given. She "aspired" to a greater level of knowledge, insight, and most of all - control. The serpent exploits this aspiration with something so subtle and yet so attractive for human beings - "remove the limitations of your humanity, expand your reach, remove the gap between what it is to be human and what it is to be Divine. Don't settle for letting God be God; Be like God!"
The forbidden fruit was too much of a source of ambiguity and uncertainty for the first family. "You need to plan for the future; remove the uncontrolled variables; He who fails to plan, plans to fail. No room for that! 1% of creation abiding outside of our control leaves too much to chance!"
Yet, human beings are not God! We are not created to live with complete control. We are created to live in complete dependence on God. There's certainly plenty for us to organize and plan, but to ever expect anything we do in cooperation with God to be fully planned and completely controlled is human arrogance and vanity. We plan and organize, but God has the final Word about what happens.
I think that God intentionally frustrates our plans, from time to time, just to keep us humble and open to His Sovereignty.
People of God should especially understood that our way in life is not control and human organziation. We are people of the Spirit, and of course, as witnessed to in our Scriptures, that means many things, but here's one of Jesus' interpretations of what it means to be people of the Spirit: "The wind blows where it wants to and you hear the sound of it, but you don't know where the wind comes from or where it is going. It is the same way with every one who is born of the Spirit."
The Spirit moves; I'm lost as to what's going on. So, I just let go. Let the wind take me... enjoy the ride... out of control... not knowing and uncertain... wrapped in the arms of God.
1 comment:
I believe that God does disrupt our paths so that we can remember who is in control. I like the Spirit, the wind blows, you hear it, but you don't know where it comes from. God is a lot like that. Often we plan to arrive at point 'A' or 'B' by a certain time and we are delayed by 30 or 45 minutes because of an accident, 'rubber neckers' ,or us getting caught up in the 'scenery' and missing our exit. I used to get mad when I got held up, but now I thank God for keeping me from whatever I was rushing into.
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