A couple days ago, the kids and I piled into the van and headed out for a morning of consignment sale shopping in a neighboring city. As we drove from the first sale to the second, we passed an ice cream shop we don’t have near our house, and I remembered that I had four coupons for free kid’s sundaes from that shop still in my purse since I had received them a year or two ago.
We stopped at the shop, and I drove through the drive-thru and ordered the four free sundaes. The lady who eventually handed them to me at the window seemed less than thrilled to give away four free items at the same time, but I thanked her politely and drove on.
Because I was feeling particularly generous that day, I let the kids eat their sundaes in the van as we drove to the second sale. A few minutes after she began eating, Jessica paused and said, “I’m thirsty.”
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t bring any drinks,” I said.
“But I’m thirsty,” she repeated for emphasis.
“Sweetie, I don’t have anything to give you,” I said.
“Let me see,” she insisted.
“I can’t show you what I don’t have,” I said.
On one hand, the incident was amusing. After all, Jessica just wanted to verify for herself that there were, indeed, no drinks present. On the other hand, it was offensive. She didn’t trust my assessment of the situation.
God gets offended, too, when we refuse to trust what He says. Sometimes when He proclaims truth, we decide we’re not going to believe Him unless we can verify the facts for ourselves. When we do that, we’re telling Him that His judgment isn’t worthy of being relied upon—that we’ll trust our own judgment before we’ll trust His. Other times, we simply contradict God. He proclaims truth, and we tell Him He’s wrong because we see things differently. When we do that, we’re telling Him that He’s either a liar or sadly mistaken.
I wonder how much our lives would change if we began acting like the things God says really are true and accurate. For example, when God says we should consider trials pure joy because they produce so many excellent character qualities in us, what difference would it make if we actually started acting like we are joyful that our character is being refined instead of resentful about the trials? Or when God tells us that we should forgive, how much healing might we find if we actually forgave instead of refusing to do so because the person doesn’t deserve it? Or when we read God’s admonition to honor our husbands, what if we actually started to do so, instead of making excuses?
I know there are times when it’s hard to live as if God’s truth is really true. But to do anything less dishonors God. Refusing to let His truth permeate every area of our lives and bring all those areas into conformity with His will is the same thing as telling Him that He’s not worthy of being believed, respected, or trusted in those areas.
Moms, we need to repent of the shamefully arrogant attitude that says that we’re more qualified than God to assess anything. Compared to Him, we know nothing, and it’s well past time for us to stop setting ourselves up as the experts. Let’s determine that we’ll honor God no matter what, and accept His every assessment as our own. After all, He’s always right. So how in the world could it profit us to act as if He isn’t?
Psalm 19:7—The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.