Tuesday, July 8, 2025

We Don't Know What We Are Doing

“O LORD, I know that the way of man [is] not in himself: [it is] not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” (Jer 10:23 AV)

This is one of those statements that can hit the reader in any number of ways.  How it applies lies in the present condition of the heart.  If he is proud, then the reader can see this is deeply convicting.  If the reader is one prone to anxiety, then comfort is the result.  Knowing that we will never have all the answers and that God does is a great comfort to the fearful.  To Jeremiah, this verse points to the origin of revival.  He is preaching to an unrepentant and wicked nation.  If they are to have revival, they must want it and then depend on heaven to send it.  There is the most precious to me and that is an attitude of dependence.  Often coming at the end of trying to run one’s own life, the reader can admit to the soul that he or she truly doesn’t know what they are doing and needs the LORD to navigate through life.  Whether it is a need for revival or guidance through life, the principle is still the same.

There is a game we used to play with our teenagers that illustrates this truth perfectly.  It is one of those games by which someone is initiated into the group.  Two people are removed to a separated location.  The rest of the group uses objects to create a maze.  We used foldable chairs, and we set it up in a fill-sized gym.  Once the maze was all set, then one of the two separated from the group would be blind-folded and the other was his guide.  The point was to get through the maze without hitting any chairs.  Each chair hit was a point deducted.  Teams of two would work at the maze.  One was blind, the other was the guide.  Each time a new team was selected, the maze was reset.  We switched the guide and the guided so that each would experience being led by someone with better understanding and eyesight.  The very last team to go had our stooge.  He or she would be the last one to attempt the course blind-folded.  What this person didn’t know was as they heard what they thought were the chairs being reassembled, they were actually being stored away.  When our stooge came out with his eyes covered, the floor was empty.  It was hilarious watching this individual navigate a maze that did not exist.  To play it up, the guide would bark emergency instructions or wrong instructions that had to be quickly corrected.  The stooge would react accordingly.  It was a lot of fun.  Getting through the maze without hitting any chairs meant the stooge had won the contest.  When the blind-fold was removed, he realized he had been had.

God is infinitely wiser than all of creation put together.  He knows all things.  He knows how everything works.  He knows what will happen.  He has a plan that we cannot even begin to comprehend.  I have noticed that when my young sons gave up trying to do something on their own, they learned much faster.  Jeremiah may have meant the above statement as a criticism of the people who he led.  But the truth can run deeper than repentance and reconciliation.  This truth is universal.  It doesn’t matter whether we are walking in obedience and faith; or walking in disobedience and fear.  The truth is still the same.  Compared to the infinite wisdom of God, we simply cannot guide ourselves.  Living in the will of God is not within us.  We need our Father to show us the way, to give us wisdom, and to empower us.  It is not within ourselves.  Only God can get us through the maze of life.

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