It’s no secret that married couples often disagree. The version where everything is hunky-dory is pure fiction. Mom used to call my dad “Inocencio” because he regularly proclaimed himself to be innocent of wrongdoing. He’d roll his eyes and call her “Perfecta” when she pointed it out.
When you’ve been married a long time, you have to actively work at not falling into bad habits where the other is concerned. Habits like fear, faulty assumptions, and saying foolish things.
I’m guilty, especially when my spouse does things I don’t like. Consider the following scenario:
“I need to clean the leaves and limbs off the roof of the shop. It’s a mucky mess up there,” my husband recently announced.
That sounded dangerous. Already, I wasn’t a fan. “That means walking around on the roof.” Objection sneaked into my attempt to appear matter-of-fact.
“Yes, but I’ll be careful.” He shot me a look. “I’m always careful.”
I nodded hesitantly, forcing back thoughts of what could go wrong. More for my benefit than his, I echoed, “Yes, you are careful.”
And that was the end of the conversation. A couple of weeks later, I was working in my office, and something outside snagged my attention. It wasn’t a squirrel skittering around on the shop roof. It was Dave sweeping off leaves, branches, and dirt.
My breathing hitched. “Please protect him, Lord.” The Lord already knew Part B of that prayer—the part about having mercy on me too, because I don’t want to live without him.
With a sense of resignation, I stood on the balcony and watched. Then I grabbed my phone and snapped pictures. Then he finished, clambered down the ladder, and moved to his next task. Just like always. He was so focused, he never saw me and certainly wasn’t hindered by my fear. Later, he enjoyed the pictures. I enjoyed the proof that he was careful.
I don’t always like the things that God does either. Or what He allows to happen. I’m not happy with the state of our country right now, but the problems aren’t new. Throughout history, there have been other pandemics, natural disasters, and the tendency of governments not to get it right. And people throughout the ages have been perturbed about the way of things. The writer of Ecclesiastes said, “There’s nothing new under the sun.”
God told Isaiah, one of his prophets, that “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways….”
What? God thinks and does things differently than we do?
Well, we should surely hope that’s the case. After all, this is the Self-Existing One, the Great I Am, the Supreme Being of the Universe.
So, why should we expect to know and understand the mind of God as if he’s duty-bound to share every last detail? We lose sight of his sovereignty when we disrespectfully demand answers from our Creator.
When we don’t like the way things are, our response is usually to look for someone to blame. We’re quick to blame God when he doesn’t do what we think he should.
Newsflash: When we do that, we miss the point.
While we can know and understand the mind of God about some things, there are plenty of areas in our lives where our job is to believe that he exists and trust him. Period.
Just like I did with my husband on the roof, I’m learning to take mental photos of how it all works out because He has a plan whether I see it or not.
He really does have it under control. If I listen instead of reacting, that still small voice says, you can trust Me, I got this.
And He does. He’s always careful.