Tying our shoes

One of my early childhood memories was when I was really little and hadn’t learned to tie my shoes yet. I was stubborn and wanted to tie my own shoes (this was before the days of Velcro – ouch, it hurts to admit that).  Never mind that I hadn’t the ability to, or knowledge to; I didn’t want to be bothered by the details.    My parents tried to tell me that it would be better, on all of us, if I just let them tie my shoes for me, but no.  I had to do it myself.

Of course, I failed miserably.  I couldn’t do it on my own.  All I could accomplish was to frustrate myself and my parents and take a long time fiddling around with the laces, but alas, they failed get tied in the nice bow that my parents could achieve.  I was simply unwilling to wait, unwilling to let my parents do what (at that point, at least) only they could do, and unwilling to let go.  I insisted on doing things my own way, taking matters into my own hands.

My reading this week allowed me a view into a similar situation with the Israelites.  My journey through the Old Testament took me through Genesis 48 – 50, Exodus 1 – 4, Psalms 48 – 54, Ruth 3 – 4, and 1 Samuel 1 – 5.  In 1 Samuel 4 (verses 1 – 5) we find an apt lesson similar to what I learned in the whole “tying shoes” episode.

At that time Israel was at war with the Philistines. The Israelite army was camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines were at Aphek.  The Philistines attacked and defeated the army of Israel, killing 4,000 men.  After the battle was over, the troops retreated to their camp, and the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?” Then they said, “Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it will save us from our enemies.”  So they sent men to Shiloh to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were also there with the Ark of the Covenant of God.  When all the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud it made the ground shake!

The Israelites had experienced some successes after their wilderness wanderings … successes by the direct intervention of the Lord.  They had defeated their enemies many times.  Like a growing child, they began to have some positive experiences growing as a nation and began to develop expectations of being able to do what they set their efforts to.  But like a child, they didn’t have maturity to realize what they couldn’t do.  So when they suffered defeat at the hands of the Philistines, they were perplexed.  They decided to take matters into their own hands.  Set aside for the moment that they didn’t have the ability to win; that didn’t matter and certainly didn’t dissuade them.

We can be the same way, can’t we?  The second things don’t go the way we want them to … when God doesn’t fulfill our wishes the way we think He should … we revert to our own way of doing things.  We selectively set aside our memories about God’s blessing in our lives and try to take on a task we can’t do, or we figure He must need our help.  Forget that we haven’t the first clue how to bring ourselves the blessings God can.  Forget that we can’t see the things that He can see about our lives, the lives of those around us, etc.  Forget that He is all-powerful and we aren’t.  Don’t let the details get in the way.  We want to tie our own shoes and perish the thought of anyone … God included … telling us we can’t just yet.

Sure, there are things in life we can eventually learn and do on our own.  Tying shoes included.  It comes with surrender in early life, taking the time to learn and grow, letting someone else show us how it’s done, and then … in the right timing (God’s timing perhaps) … we might be ready to do it on our own.  But, there’s no skipping ahead, and there are at times certain things we’ll never be able to do.  It sure doesn’t stop us from trying, does it?  Sometimes it goes right past “trying” to “insisting”.

That’s what we see from the Israelites.  How’d it work out for them?  Verses 10 and 11 tell us.

So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents.  The Ark of God was captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed.

It couldn’t have gone worse.  Just like (in a smaller, simpler way, of course) my trying to tie my shoes when I was a little kid.

When we take matters into our own hands, we are inherently refusing to trust God.  We wrongly assume we know what we’re doing … and compared to God, we haven’t the foggiest notion of how to run life.  It can only work out to our detriment.

Think about times when God didn’t seem to respond in the way you wanted Him to, or thought He should.  Or maybe He didn’t respond fast enough.  Maybe you figured a particular situation was too sensitive for God to handle, or that He was busier with other things and needed you to jump in to manage the small stuff.  How did those times work out?  I can attest, when I’ve done that … actually, when I DO that (because there are times when I still do) … it’s been a disaster.  I just screw stuff up.  I’m not able to do it the way God would, I don’t have the knowledge and context that God has.  It’s an epic failure.  Just like me trying to tie my own shoes as a little kid.

Bottom line, God has all the ability to do all He needs to do.  He has the knowledge, and He has the context.   Rather than trying to rush to do things we can’t, we should just wait for Him to work in the way He knows He should.   Instead of INSISTING we tie our shoes well before our time, we should just let Him tie them for us.  We’ll save a ton of failure and frustration in LIFE.

This week let’s prayerfully ask God to reveal to us what areas of our lives we are trying to take over … what are the areas where we’re trying to tie our shoes.  Let’s ask Him to give us the courage and patience to trust Him and let Him do what only He is capable of doing, and to remind us that there are areas where we don’t have the requisite knowledge.  And let’s ask Him to help us accept as such and to rejoice, even if He hasn’t tied them already, that He will tie them soon enough … as soon as He plans to … as soon as we need (rather than want) Him to.

Blessings in Christ Jesus,

MR