You know better - Devotion for 10/23/08

You know better – Devotion for 10/23/08

Do you remember what it was like as a teenager to think that your parents were complete idiots? OK – maybe idiots is a bit of a strong word, but I think you know what I’m talking about. We all went through a period of time where we thought we knew more than our parents about many things, such as what we should eat, what kind of allowance we should get, why we shouldn’t have a curfew, etc. One of the things my Dad used to drive me crazy about when I first got my driver’s license was that whenever I would get ready to leave the house, he would ask me “Do you have your wallet?” Every single time I would have my wallet, and I would fuss at him, “Why do you always ask me if I have my wallet?” And he would explain that he knew me and he knew I tended to forget things (who me?), and so he wanted to make sure I had my wallet with my license and any money just in case I needed it. I remember one evening blowing up at him about always asking me if I had my wallet, telling him that I was old enough to take care of myself. Funny how those things come back to haunt you sometimes.

There I was on a date at Rock-Ola Café in Raleigh. After a lovely dining experience (if such a thing is possible at Rock-Ola), when the waitress brought the bill, and I reached back for my wallet, I realized in terror that my wallet was not there! This was back in the dark ages when we didn’t have cell phones (well, some people might have, but they were about the size of a suit case), and so I was panicking! I couldn’t ask my date to pay the bill – I had at least learned that from my Dad. The only thing I knew to do was to go to the payphone, which fortunately was near the bathrooms, and call home. Tail tucked down, I called my Dad and had to confess that I had forgotten my wallet, and sure enough just a few short minutes later there he was. That was the first of many lessons that I received demonstrating to me how truly smart my father actually was and is.

This morning I was reading in Acts 9, specifically verses 10-18, and in that passage, God speaks to a follower of the way named “Ananias.” God tells Ananias to go and find Saul because Saul has had a vision that a man named Ananias would come and lay hands on him. Ananias knows this name Saul, and he knows all about Saul’s exploits, terrorizing any and all of the followers of Christ, so Ananias decides he needs to explain a thing or two to God, telling him all about all the harm Saul has done, and how he even has the authority to bind all of call on the name of Christ. What I love is Ananias is telling God that God’s plan just doesn’t make sense. God says to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine . . .” And Ananias goes. So many times we want God to give us an answer to a prayer, and when He gives it we don’t like it because it doesn’t make sense to us, and so we try to argue with God about His plans and purposes. I believe that God does the same thing to us that He did to Ananias – bringing certain people into our lives for a purpose. Even though in our heads it is easy to try to argue with God about why it wouldn’t make sense, sometimes we just have to trust that He knows what He is doing.