It's always interesting to me that sometimes in life you get bombarded with the same message from lots of different angles. I always try to pay attention when this happens as it feels like God is trying to say something to me. Sometimes it happens about things that aren't important like the type of car you buy and then you notice them everywhere kind of situations. I don't think those are necessarily God moments, but Sometimes it's deeper than that.
I often listen to The Bible Project podcast, which if you're remotely interested in the Bible, I highly recommend as it is truly fascinating how the two guys explain things. I've learned so much from this podcast and the videos they post on their website are great even for kids. The other day I was listening and they were talking about the knowledge of good and evil mentioned in Genesis in the Adam and Eve story. They were discussing the fact that once A & E picked the option to know evil as well, their minds were opened up to loads of choices including trying to figure out what was evil and what is good. In the beginning, they only knew what was good and they only lived in God's will. They were falsely duped into thinking that knowing all the options, would give them freedom.
I was doing my Bible study this morning and the same theme came up. This time what I was reading brought out the fact that once Adam and Eve sin, they immediately are unsure of themselves and feel like they have to hide. They cover themselves up and It made me think about the fact that when they sinned, they opened themselves up to a zillion choices and constant decisions of is this good or evil?. Before they were sure of who they were but all those choices made them feel like running away and hiding.
I'm not a Bible scholar and perhaps I've completely misunderstood the storyline but I really felt like God is trying to teach me something. That when I look at all the options and choices there are in the world, it's really a false idea of freedom and soon becomes overwhelming. It's only when I look to God for wisdom that life slows down and decisions become simplified again. I keep filling my mind with all kinds of "voices" who are giving advice on what I need to do to feel fulfilled, to make a difference, to reach my potential, to help others, to be successful, to earn lots of money, to communicate well etc, etc, etc. Then I'm trying to take all these thoughts and figure out which ones are "good" and which ones are "evil". It's a bit exhausting and does occasionally make me want to run away and hide.
God reminded me this morning that He has all the answers to all my problems, He's the calm in my chaos and only He can help me figure things out. Too many options don't really lead to freedom. It sounds freeing but it's actually paralysing. I think I've been doing it all backwards and perhaps this 30 day fast from all the voices will help me re-orient myself toward God and I'll end up getting where I want to go faster or at least with less brain chaos.
If you've been reading this for a while, I'm not promising anything (that's for my siblings specifically who call me out regularly on my contradictions). It was just a small God moment in my crazy brain that made sense to me and I'm going to run with it and see where I end up.
My quote for today is from the Bible, Isaiah 30:21. "Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left."
My photo for today is courtesy of my big brother who sent it to me as he thinks it typifies my brain. Sadly, he's about right. Hopefully I'll have more tranquil tree-like paths in future. I have a feeling that lovely path looks like the inside of my sister Jen's brain. Her brain is full of food and other zen like stuff.
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