Last week, after celebrating Kyla's 11th birthday, three year old Kaleb, who was in the beginning stages of catching Dad's cold, wandered into my room looking like he was in deep thought. I couldn't imagine what had his mind so preoccupied at that moment. His little face was all frowned up and he was in a semi-daze.
After a couple of minutes had passed, Kaleb broke his silence.
"Mommy," he said in a whiny voice, "I dink I know why I sick."
"You do?" I asked, eager to hear what his answer would be.
"Mmmm hmmm," he nodded his head sincerely with his shoulders slumped and his lips puckered out. "I dink I sick because I ate too much chips."
I chuckled and let out an involuntary, "Awww..." But I didn't tell Kaleb he had given himself the wrong diagnosis. He was so sure he was right and had no idea that his consumption of potato chips had nothing to do with his stuffy nose and sneezing. Of course, as mature adults, it is quite easy to identify Kaleb's error, because we are enlightened.
Without enlightenment, however, it is impossible to recognize error. This is such an important lesson. Since God is our only source of true knowledge and wisdom, only He can reveal to us those things that would otherwise remain a mystery.
That's why seeking the Lord for guidance and direction is an absolute must! Otherwise, when we try to determine the root causes of issues that arise in our lives, we will end up just as misguided as Kaleb was about the source of his illness.
We cannot play "connect the dots" with our lives, stringing together a series of occurrences, and then interpreting the data from which to draw our own conclusions. Life doesn't work that way-- at least not for those who have submitted and committed their lives to the Lord. We know nothing without Him and we can do nothing without Him.
Even practically speaking, when something goes wrong in our bodies, we ought not be on Google trying to self-diagnose. There is far too much vague and misleading information out there to wade through. I remember a close relative of mine made the mistake of looking up symptoms online. By the time she finished her research, she concluded that she had a brain tumor and literally thought she was going to die... seriously. When she finally went to the doctor, it was nothing but stress, probably brought on by her preoccupation with the bogus diagnosis she put together from her information gathering session. We're able to laugh about it now, but back then, she went through mental turmoil behind that error.
The lesson in all of this is, we must take our situations to God and let Him tell us what needs to be done. Whether trouble arises in our relationships, emotions, finances, professional pursuits, health, or spiritual walk, God knows where the issue began and precisely how to end it.
Before we can get the answers we need though, we have to pursue the Omniscient, All-knowing One. Only God knows both the source and the solution, the problem and
the remedy.
Yesterday, I talked to you about accepting God's prescription for your life. Today, I want you to focus on accepting His diagnosis. If you adhere to God's word and heed His voice, He'll point out the problem, uncover the why behind the what and then, hand over just the right prescription you need to resolve it.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may you be empowered to prosper!
Dianna Hobbs
