So a new trend has started in our house recently. Ever since Eli has turned the good ole age of 3, he thinks he knows everything and that he is smarter than you. Whether it is in the car while driving or at the house while doing renovations, he loves to give his opinion and tell you in his limited vocabulary what is on his mind. With doing the work around the house, he loves to pick up the screw gun and tell me how I should be using it. Or when I go to make a cut, somehow he has an opinion about it.
The thing that I think cracks me up the most though is in the car. He is by all definition, a backseat driver. The light turns red, so I stop. Automatically without missing a beat, I hear in the background, “Daddy, Go!” So I try and explain to him about the light being red, which means to stop. “But I don’t want to stop, I want you to go.” Yeah, trying to reason with a three year old works real good. Like when he thinks he knows where we are going or when he wants to go somewhere different. “Turn here, I want to go there, You’re going the wrong way, and the list goes on.” All I can say is that he is a pistol.
Now what if we listened to his 3 year old wisdom and did everything his way. Absurd right. Who knows where we’d end up or how the work would get done. While driving the other day though is truly got me thinking about this idea. We would all say that we would be nuts to listen to a 3 year olds advice, like when he doesn’t want to go to bed. “You’re right lil man I’ll take your 3 years of knowledge over my 35 years of living.”
In reality though, how often do we do the same exact thing with God. Trying to tell Him how we think things should be done or bartering with him claiming we know more. Maybe there are times we need to keep our mouth shut and listen to His ways instead of thinking our years of living outweigh His knowledge. It reminds me of the scene in Job where God respond to Job’s questioning. Follow this thought real quick.
“Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone”
Job 38:1-6
Kinda absurd to think about right. How often do we really think we know how things should be done, more than God himself. So I guess in closing I’ll say this, ARE YOU FOLLOWING CHRIST OR YOU TRYING TO TELL HIM TO FOLLOW YOU?