When we only know little bits at the time, of an enormous plan, we are less likely to panic.
My son is going to be a freshman in high school next year. He is taking an honors literature class and the folks in charge of that class have decided that he needs to have a reading assignment over the summer. Don’t even get me started on my feelings about the school’s intrusion into my personal summer family time. Who do they think they are?
To make matters worse, the book is six hundred and thirty pages. It’s four smaller books joined together to make one. As soon as I saw the assignment, I knew I had to take action. He would balk at the size of the book and would likely just give up, thinking that he could never read a book that length.
He does not enjoy reading at all, but he loves to write and he’s good at it. I think he will do well in the class and will likely enjoy it once he gets past the seemingly impossible assignment.
I made a plan. I downloaded the book onto his Kindle. The Kindle is small. He can’t see that the book is actually the size of a “Harry Potter,” novel. He isn’t intimidated by is size. I also have him reading a few chapters a day.
Today, he actually came and found me and started telling me about some things he found funny about the book. He asked me if I knew certain characters were in the book. I didn’t. He went on to explain some things about different legends concerning Robin Hood, unicorns and fairies. He’s actually enjoying the book.
He would never have opened the cover if he knew how much work was ahead of him.
I wonder if perhaps, God does the same kind of parenting with us. I have a friend who constantly complains about not knowing what’s coming next. I always tell her that living and obeying one day at a time builds faith and I believe that.
But, my summer assignment experience with my son, also makes me wonder if God often keeps the magnitude of some our assignments to Himself, because He knows we will balk and lose courage. We will be certain we can’t do it.
He’s probably right. If He would have told Abraham how long he would have to wait to get his promised heir, would he have so cheerfully gone? If He would have told Joseph how he would have to be sold by his brothers or how many years he would have to be a prisoner in Egypt before his dreams came true, and his brothers bowed down to him, would he have shared those dreams in the first place?
The Bible is full of examples like these and I suspect most modern-day, mountain moving, God lead stories have similar scenarios. Human beings have very little grasp on what we are capable of when God stands behind us. But, God knows.
And because He does know us, maybe He keeps us on a need to know basis when it comes to the bigger stuff. I think that’s probably for the best. Don’t you?
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂