Sweeping up with four final questions about Everything Fits. The first three are HERE.
4.
What suggestions could you make to help me truly believe everything fits, when I really believe everything does NOT seem to fit? It is the “really believing” that is a challenge!
There was a time long ago during trips away from home when I thought to myself, “What if I forget how to get home?” (Crazy, eh?) On one occasion I badly frightened myself thinking how scary it would be to forget my way. What would you tell me if I told you it was a challenge to really believe I wouldn’t forget?
Believe it the same way you believe everything else. Sometimes God just gives you faith, but when he doesn’t, then you choose to believe. No one will make you, beg you, or prove it to you.
The first words in the Bible–“In the beginning God”–don’t try to convince you that there was a God in the beginning. It just states the facts. Believing it is up to you.
5.
Do we ever really reach a point where we accept that whether or not it makes sense, it all really does fit? Or is that a perpetual journey? Also, even if it all really does make sense and fit, what the heck do we do to heal and overcome all the scars in the process?
Maybe it’s steps. You can always go farther. You can also have peace wherever you are by just believing like a child. Kids don’t insist on understanding. They know how to trust that the grownups are in control. They ask questions and don’t understand the answers, but still trust. Grownups are too smart to trust. “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
I don’t know what to do to heal and overcome scars. Jacob limped the rest of his life. Jesus kept the holes in his hands and side. Life comes from death. Dirt grows beautiful living green things.
6.
So should we just not ask ‘why?’
I think we can ask anything we want. I just can’t demand an answer. God told Job that Job was not able to understand; and Job was as godly as they come. Some ‘whys’ God may tell me. Some ‘whys’ may not be best for me to know now.
Some ‘whys’ I may not ever be able understand; so on those, hammering at heaven’s door just won’t get me in. If I insist, I can expect a speech like Job got in chapters 38-41.
7.
For those who “get it,” what advice would you give to help talk to those who don’t? Seems hard to describe to someone unless you really know and trust your God in very intimate ways. That can be perceived as flippant, uncaring or unsympathetic by those in the midst of hardship or pain.
Yes, I agree. So don’t talk. If you truly trust God and believe everything fits, just let it show in your attitude, reactions, decisions, and in your peace. Then talk if they ask.
Bonus #8!
Give me one small practical thing to do to move me one baby step closer to accepting that everything fits.
This is lame but try it. Every time you doubt and question that everything fits, stare at your left hand. You’ve heard that your hand is filled with 27 bones plus ligaments, nerves, and muscles, yet you have never seen them. Now try to move your hand and wiggle your fingers–if you can, everything fits; if you can’t, it doesn’t.
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What do you do when it’s hard to believe?
