Familiarity breeds contempt, so the ancient proverb states. However, I have learned that proverbs are not meant as sure promises or guarantees. They often are true, but not always. Familiarity with God has not bred contempt; although, who can truly say she is "familiar" with God and His ways.
His ways include "coincidences" such as finishing up a study in James, turning to Laubach's January 20th entry and discovering God is speaking the same words to me in two different texts. God has done this enough times, I would think such happenings would become mundane; instead, I am nudged into attention.
The English teacher in me is already happy with the attention I have been paying to James as he writes: "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings (chairein - Joy to you!). Count it all joy (charan), my brethren when you might fall into various temptations..." Look at that wonderful sentence flow! The first sentence ends with joy, and he picks up the linking word of joy at the beginning of the next sentence. A+ James!
The challenge (and coincidence) happens when I actually stop to consider the content: Joy at the possibility of temptations? Beth Moore writes in her Mercy Triumphs study of James, "...do we have a better plan? Let's do what the first word...says: let's 'consider' our options. What are my other plans, and how do they pan out? Sometimes our root issue is that we don't want to be forced into anything. We need to know we really do have options. Let's think through three. Identify your most pressing personal trial right now....Now, consider the fruit of each of the three. What do you believe the five-year ramifications would be for each of those courses of action?...Food for thought, isn't it? While counting our trials joys because of the treasures they can bring may be the hard choice in the beginning, most of us would have to admit that the other options don't pan out as well (46).
Laubach writes, "But this year I have started out trying to live all my waking moments in conscious listening to the inner voice, asking without ceasing, 'What, Father, do you desire said? What, Father, do you desire done this minute?' It is clear that this is exactly what Jesus was doing all day every day. But it is not what His followers have been doing in very large numbers"(20 January 1930).
If I fill my mind with worries about all the temptations I will face today, how I will deal with them, how I will probably fail and have to clean up some mess, as I try to figure out all the scenarios, i realize i have a different option: i can obey GOD step by step: What, Father, do you desire said? What, Father, do you desire done this minute? And, i (little 'i') can let HIM deal with the rest. When that happens, my day begins and ends with joy.
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