ARISING FROM THE MADNESS

Wouldn’t be wonderful if all of us were able to do things that were wise and always worked out? I ask the question because I have a feeling that I’m not the only one who has wished life could be more perfect. It never is, but that doesn’t keep me from wishing it were the truth.

What is so disappointing at times and even more so when you find yourself guilty of such behavior is when we make the absolute worse choice possible. And sometimes even after a disaster occurs we try to excuse the blunder rather than admit we were just plain stupid in a given situation. That of course in itself is a form of stupidity prompted by pride, but it is still being stupid.

Even the smartest person makes mistakes. Just look at the record of Solomon. He was credited with being the smartest person of his time, but you sure couldn’t tell from his behavior. And in a small way I guess that makes me feel encourage to not beat myself up as much when I blunder since I’ve seen how someone that smart was capable of proving he had moments where sanity and common sense fled his mind.

The scriptures do carry a promise that if any one lacks wisdom let him ask, as in asking the Lord. But that doesn’t mean if he answers our prayers we will always listen.

I am reminded of the time when a remnant of the defeated kingdom of Judah approached the prophet Jeremiah to ask him to petition the Lord for guidance. They wanted to go to Egypt to obviously put some distance between themselves and the Babylon conquerors.

And so the prophet did seek the Lord’s wisdom. The only problem was the answer that came was that God wanted them to stay where they were in Israel. It wasn’t the message they wanted to hear and they refused to listen. They went ahead and did what they wanted and it turned out to be a disaster.

I look back at my own life and when I strip away the excuses I love to muster for my long undistinguished history of bad choice I realize more than anything they were my choices, Oh there were plenty of factors that contributed like a very abusive childhood and a panoply of affects that forced me to repeat the same self-abusive cycle over and over.

Yet I realize all of this was in part a madness of sorts. One I’ve seen in other people too. The good news for me was that eventually God did bring me to a point where I was able in part to break that dreadful cycle. And along the way, I succeeded in some small milestones with his help like graduating with honors from college, winning some poetry awards and even publishing a book. God took my madness and helped me to arise not to greatness to speak of, but to a point of enough sanity where I could function with all my liabilities.

It doesn’t give me a reason to boast. Simple a quite joy of knowing that in his loving grace and awareness that with the right kind of stimulus I could be lead in a positive direction.

And so if you have found yourself in a similar situation, listen. Let God minister as only he can. It may not be you will end up rich and famous, but it will bring you to the place where you can perhaps arise from the madness. Sometimes the greatest victory is being other than walking in a circle of confusion and self-defeated intentions.