I Don't Get It

Man, do I get this one! For so many years I let alcohol and drugs cloud my decision making. I was lost in a sea of confusion on most days, and on others when I had success I would fall right back down again to failure the next day. The baffling and cunning predators of addiction and being just plain stubborn stood between me and God.

This morning I opened my Bible to two Proverbs that so accurately summed up the knucklehead life as I will call it, that is the life that excludes God from its foundation. Let me present them to you one at a time.

A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. Proverbs 22:3

I can promise you the word prudent was never a part of my life before coming to a life of faith. It seemed the more I suffered the more I desired more suffering from my consequences. But in truth, the thrill of trying the dangerous was always worth the risk it seemed, until losing almost everything that was valuable to me. Then the real suffering set in realizing I had become simply a fool. 

The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge, but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful. Proverbs 22:12

I don't get it! Now maybe you and I understand why. The Lord guards the wisdom he delves out and he doesn't portion it out to fools. Ever say something that seemed to come out of nowhere that impacted someone else - that was God, not you. I can think of so many messages I have delivered that words came to me from seemingly nowhere but it was the Holy Spirit taking me somewhere he wanted me to go with them.

Then again, we can also be unfaithful once we come to believe, as witnessed by David and Peter just to name a couple examples in scripture. And I can remember being frustrated by my words, but that too was God trying to tell me to get back on track. He's that way, a forgiving, loving father giving us the knowledge we need to succeed moment by moment, even if it embarrasses us into learning from the confusion.

Thank God, He gets it!