Blog 643 – 05.25.2017
Through Us Not For Us

I saw a phrase the other day that got me thinking – A dangerous practice to be sure but one that we should all try to get better at instead of allowing others to do our thinking for us. The phrase was, “God, the Universe, works through us not for us.” Often it seems that many of us act like the God of all the Universe was some sort of genie in a bottle whose sole role is to be at our beck and call and grant our wishes and prayers. I think more often The Boss is like a CEO of a company I once worked for that said, “Don’t bring me a problem unless you have thought it out and also have the solution. That is what I pay you for.” Or as the mayor used to say to the sherif on a sitcom in the seventies called Carter Country, “Handle it, Roy.” There is a great line in the book of Esther that reads, “What think you that you were not born into the kingdom for such a time as this.” What we think is God’s job is really our job and the other way around. Has He not said, “Whatsoever your hands find to do, do it with all your heart.” And also that worrying and score settling are His department.

We do too much complaining, and too much praying, and not enough thinking, and certainly “too much shirking and not enough working.” I see God as a very present help in time of trouble. It is up to us to get to work and when we run into a little trouble He/She will be there to help us through it. God gave Moses a job, tell Pharoah to let my people go. Pharoah said “No” seven times and seven times that got Pharoah into trouble that God had to get him out of. Pharoah finally let the people go. God gave Moses another job, get my people out of Egypt. Moses started leading them out and ran into a little trouble, the Red Sea, so he cried out to God, “A little help here.” And God came through. She/He knows Her job better than we do. And trust me there is plenty of work for all of us to do that does not involve a lot of praying. Now meditating that is just thinking and we need to do plenty of that before and sometimes even at work to stay on track. But when you start asking God to do this or that be prepared to come away with more work to do. That is how it works because as that little phrase that got me thinking goes, “God works through us not for us” and I can hear God speaking in the voice of one of my favorite dads in the world, Wallace Mendel Stokes. I have heard him say the words many times, “Let’s get to work.” Wallace’s working days are over so he can rest from his labors but for many of us there is plenty of work yet to do. As John Wayne told the Cowboys, “You’re burning day light – Get to work.”

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White