My 26-year-old son recently adopted four abandoned kittens. Orphaned animals aren’t that unusual on a farm, but it’s a little hard to see Joseph as a caretaker. Sometimes, he can barely remember to feed himself. But as crazy as that may sound, one Sunday afternoon, he coaxed the crying kittens out of their underground hiding place, and almost instantly gave them all names. This band of funky-looking munchkins – Bandito, Tigger, Sweets and PJ – are not the type to suffer in silence. There’s a lot of loud singing when it’s time to feed. Have you ever heard of herding cats? Try keeping track of four hungry and hyper hooligans.
Pretty quickly, Joseph offered them canned cat food because feeding four kittens from a bottle is both time consuming and messy. They loved it, but they also were uncoordinated and not the sharpest crayons in the box. The stubborn runts insisted on gnawing on the edges of the can despite Joseph’s attempts to guide them to the food, even to the point of shoving their faces into that stinky stuff. It’s as if the kittens were saying, “Come on Joseph, everyone knows that the metal can is where the good stuff is!” They have the hang of it now, but I can’t get the image of those goofy misfits determined to chew away on the can instead of eating the delicious food right in front of them. That’s a little like us. Sometimes, we know what we need, but we don’t really know how to get there. We stumble and fall. That’s when we need to seek God to do things His way, because He has a good plan to meet our needs.
God is good ALL the time. Psalm 100:5 says, “For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; And his truth endureth to all generations.” We have all likely heard this truth before, but the problem begins when we make it conditional. I believe it MOST of the time, which is so very wrong. I quickly revert to my old way of thinking. I try to fix things myself. The lie I buy into is that God is so much better than anyone I have ever known, that if He’s not always good (by my definition), it’s okay. Sounds ridiculous when I type it, but it’s what I truly believe if I get frustrated when things do not meet my expectations. I am like the kitten asking why does this crazy can refuse to work the way I want?
So how do I do things God’s way? ASK. You can’t know if you don’t ask. Sadly, I have made quite a few poor decisions based on what seemed logical, not on God’s will. God saves us to have a relationship. He has a redemptive plan. We are never alone. While I want to have a relationship with Him, I still struggle with trust which is probably why I do not go to Him as often as needed. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” When I do things right, I seek Him.
This process has helped me.
- Pray and commit to God’s will.
- Open my Bible (or Bible App) to a random page and start reading until I have an answer. Sometimes it takes a lot of reading, but a surprising amount of time, God lets me know a direction in a reasonably short amount of time.
- Obey what God reveals. When I know I am obeying, I have resolve. That’s peace.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” When Joseph found those kittens, he had a good plan to keep them alive. God is infinitely smarter and kinder than us, and while we may not understand His plan, we can trust in it. I invite you to try this method for seeking God’s direction through His Word, and let us know how it is working for you.
— Written by Jill
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