Psalm 10 - Pass Me the Remote

Sometimes I wonder why life can’t be as simple as a television show. In sitcoms everything is neatly packaged to be wrapped up in a half hour, less than that if you take out the commercials. Other shows solve most problems in the course of a season. They may end with a cliffhanger that carries an answered dilemma over until the next year, but even that storyline is revealed usually within the first episode. The whole premise of “24” is that it operates in “real time”. So, even though it is 24 episodes long over the course of the year, all of the drama is basically wrapped up in a 24 hour time period. The writers and producers of “Lost” have set a time frame to unveil their mysteries. They don’t want to string us along more than three more years. Interestingly enough I have found that many real life situations string me along much longer. I wish that I could fast forward to the conclusion. I wish that I could TIVO my way to answers. Real life, the kind that has 24 hours in succession daily, doesn’t work that way. There have been cliffhangers that still remain unanswered. Some never will be. I can’t always write the script of my life to make it funny when I need to laugh to heal the pain. I can’t switch channels if the drama gets too intense and expect that I will instantly find relief. I can choose to push the pause button and just not deal with things, but at some point you have to unpause and choose to deal with it if you want to be able to move forward in life. Often I find myself, like King David, crying out to God and saying, “Why can’t you just tell me what to do?” Many days I wished that God would just send me a letter, pass me a note, write it down in black and white….just give me the directions and I will follow them. I know He gave me His Word. It is called the Bible. But even then there have been many times when I just wish that I could look in the concordance in the back of my Bible and under the “Js” find the scripture references to “Joyce’s Problems – Quick and Easy Step by Step Instructions to Satisfying Solutions”. He has, in His compassion, actually sent me the closest thing, in my estimation, to an actual visual sign on one rare occasion. I was troubled and pouring my heart out to a friend on the phone when I looked over and there on the side of an apple box was a blue circle with the words “Don’t Worry” written on it. I know that at that moment that was exactly what I needed to “hear”…err “see”. There have been many other times when I poured out my heart only to look around and see…..nothing, and hear….silence. I know it isn’t within His nature to be callous and uninterested and withhold Himself from us. And I know that He doesn’t just miss hearing us sometimes. As I was thinking about this yesterday I came across a key chain from, of all places, an old garment that I had purchased from Calvin Klein. It said “choice”. God knows what is best for us and desires to give us that. But, He loves us enough that He didn’t make us His puppets. We don’t walk around like remote controlled robots obeying His every command. We have free will….choices. If we know and believe His truth then we should be able to discern His purposes and will in situations as they arise. Sometimes we have to just step out in faith trusting that He will guide us. Obedience is a choice, so is disobedience. Trust is a choice, so is doubt. To love is a choice, so is to hate. Submission is a choice, so is rebellion. If we choose to drive our car off the side of a cliff, that is a choice. The show “Let’s Make a Deal” was all about choices….door one…door two….or door three. Do I keep what I have or risk it all on the chance that what is in the box will be better? Life is not simple because it is filled with choices every minute of the day. But, maybe life is simpler than I think. Maybe I am the one that makes it more confusing and complex because of the myriad of choices set in front of me that I wrestle with constantly. Maybe I need to stop and listen to the heart of the One who scripted the perfect scenario for me in each and every scene of my life’s journey. Maybe I need to put down the remote so the temptation to channel surf through life looking for quick fixes won’t be there. That, too, is a choice.