FROM THE DAWGHOUSE…
“GOD I CAN’T FIGURE THIS OUT AND I’M FRUSTRATED!”
Sometimes I can’t listen to God in my DAWG in the morning because there is an issue or a person in my life that I just can’t figure out, and don’t know how to solve that issue or … uh, more commonly, I can’t determine how to rightly relate to that person and that person is frustrating me!
I mean, have you ever had a person in your life that you had to get along with but for the life of you, you didn’t know why they did what they did in the way they did it! You just didn’t get them? You might even love them a lot, but you wind up shaking your head and get exhausted of metaphorically “banging your head against a wall” to understand them! You want to yell at them, shake them, but deep down you wonder if it’s not really YOU that is the problem! That makes for this feeling that you’re going crazy!
Ok, you get my point.
Well I had one of those “people-inscrutabilities” the other day, and I determined to finally do a little more study in the Word on it … to finally get some resolution, because, man, I tell you when you’re dealing with someone you can’t figure out and don’t know how to relate to in a way that’s godly and helpful for all concerned, it can twist your gut into knots! It keeps you awake at night. It stops you in forward progress. It assaults your manhood!
We men figure things out and solve problems!
And I’m a pastor! … we’re supposed to understand people, build bridges, and relate in a way that honors Our Lord Jesus Christ, but I couldn’t get there from here.
In desperation I called out…
“GOD I CAN’T FIGURE THIS OUT AND I’M FRUSTRATED!!! FIX THIS!”
As I waited for wisdom from God in my DAWG, He Father brought back to me a Proverb I’ve read oh, maybe a hundred times and said, “Son, do some thinking about those verses and let’s talk as you study.” So I did. I yanked down some commentaries and spent a lot of time trying to “think God’s thoughts after Him”.
Here’s a preliminary takeaway: When you do DAWGs daily and get familiar with Scripture, the Father through His Spirit can bring you back to certain Scriptures when you need them, and take you deeper. Another: You’ll have to invest time and energy in actually trying to understand the Bible and God’s message to you; you’ll have to do some work thinking. Trust me, It always pays off.
Here’s the text the Father and I walked through. One Study Bible and four commentaries later, these are my conclusions:
Proverbs 25:1-3
“These also are the proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, King of Judah, transcribed.
The primary context of these verses is understanding not only God at a deeper level, but also the political leaders in authority (sometimes ultimate authority, like in kings) above you. But these proverbs can by application give us skill in relating to regular people who we don’t understand well.
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”
Kings/Political Leaders: should be commended and praised for determining the real issues their country and people are facing and for investigating with all their might the best ways to help lead and care for their people. They should “search out” justice for all, as well as best practices and public policy to be implemented. In this sense they are the clear representatives of God. Those human leaders who lead well should be praised. It is to their glory and good reputation to make good policy decisions for their people. Fact: history has seen few really great leaders who led well for the good of their people. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln come to mind as imperfect but basically wise and selfless leaders in U.S. history.
God: Make no mistake about it, your Heavenly Father is your Father and He does love you. Jesus made all of that possible of course through His life, crucifixion, death and resurrection. So God is your Abba (Galatians 4:1-7). But He’s still the infinite, majestic, and glorious Sovereign God of all that exists. That He is infinite and we are not means that there are truths and realities that we will not understand about God, not in a million, trillion years of eternity. This is one reason we worship and glorify Him and sit in awe before Him.
Deal with it. Accept that about God. He is infinite and you are finite. You and I will not ever know everything about God, or WE would be God. What glory would God be due if He were 100% understandable? We don’t even understand humans very well!
Rest assured, the Holy Spirit will “guide you (“you” is in the plural-all of us Christians) into all the truth …” (John 16: 13) which means that we can know as Believers the truths Jesus taught and we can grow deeply in truth that is in the Bible. I do not take Jesus’ words to mean however that we will ever become all knowing, like God is!
The fact is, the more I know about God, the less I really know!
“What He has brought to light only shows how much is concealed.”
“Thus does he educate his children in mystery, that he may exercise them in the life of faith.”
Charles Bridges
So Deuteronomy 29:28 make sense:
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may follow all the words of this Law.”
God deserve glory for what is concealed. I need to learn to praise Him for what I do not understand.
“As the heavens for height and for the earth for depth, So the heart of kings is unsearchable.”
Here’s a bit of wisdom to keep in mind. While God is inscrutable, ultimately unknowable perfectly by us, so are Kings and Presidents and Prime Ministers and … well all other leaders in authority over us and, by application, all people! I mean, who can know all of the emotions, and motives and thinking and pressures that go into affecting people to act in the way they do? Not me! Only God can do that!
***
So … when it comes then to not being able to understand other PEOPLE and being frustrated with some people, here are some of the Bible’s freedom giving takeaways …
#1 We must try and understand people, spending what time we can and must in order to understand them. Love demands that. Especially people close to you and with whom you work and serve in business and in the church. Ask for wisdom to be able to listen, ask the right questions and understand others. Often God will answer positively!
#2 We are limited in our intellectual capabilities as creatures and hindered by a fallen nature that simply cannot grasp all issues and people as clearly as Adam and Eve did before the Fall. I am finite. So I humble myself under God’s hand and accept that there are people that I don’t click with and don’t really “get” and vice versa! Ya, there are people who shake their head when they think of me! That is just the real world. So we have to move on and work with and serve with people where there is a better fit when you can do that.
#3 Give yourself a break! You can’t spend time with everyone, and you have to prioritize who you should spend time with and try to know and understand more deeply. We are leaders, men, and leaders have to know and understand those they lead and love them well. But you don’t have to know and understand everyone, and you don’t have to work with everyone either. Simply put: there will be people you never really come to understand and that’s ok.
So really, all people are inscrutable to some extent. I don’t even know why I do what I do in the way I do it!
So here’s my prayer: “Father, I give you my frustration with (person or issue). I just can’t figure him/her/it out right now. But You are infinite and I praise You that You understand all things and all people perfectly! Help me have insight I need to move toward ________ and/or work out this situation. I humble myself under Your mighty hand and ask for Your wise and good power to enable me to love people well and thus bring honor to You, for I pray in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
Give your frustrations with people to God, seek insight, love them anyway, accept that you’re finite. Don’t wear yourself out trying to be God.
You take it to heart,
Pete Alwinson
