Isaiah 55:6-7, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”
Recently, I had to have surgery on my legs for a varicose vein problem, where, simply put, the blood was running the wrong way and pooling up, thus causing problems.
After reading about this health issue, I found myself thinking about some of the people God tells us about in His Word—how they were headed in the right direction for a season, and then something happened, and they turned and went in the wrong direction.
Take Adam and Eve, for example. All was going so well, then suddenly, they thought they knew best. They sinned, made clothing out of fig leaves, heard God walking in the garden, and they RAN and HID themselves from Him.
When the blood in your veins goes the wrong direction, you can expect problems, and it’s important to get it fixed. The good news is that it can be treated and corrected. Thank you, Lord.
But what about my sin—my running the wrong way from God, like:
1. Eve—Inadequate faith
2. Adam—Rebellion
3. Cain—Hate
4. Noah—Drunkenness
5. David—Lust
6. Thomas—Doubt
7. Peter—Denial
And the list goes on…
Reflecting on the times in my life when I was walking with God, then, in an instant, something happened that turned me around and sent me in the wrong direction, I found myself in a POOL OF DIFFICULTY. I needed the wonderful Shepherd/Surgeon to perform His surgery of mercy, surgery of grace, surgery of forgiveness, and surgery of restoration to set me back on the right path.
The sweet goodness of God is ever present for all of us, but we need to recognize the signs—the pooling up of anger, unforgiveness, lust, adultery, drunkenness, lying, dissension, jealousy, etc. Our Shepherd/Surgeon is just one request away from stepping into our pool of wrong choices and supplying what is absolutely necessary to get everything in our lives flowing His way, not ours.
Don’t play God—it is messy, foolish, and dangerous to our spiritual health. Paul wrote—and by the way, he was running the wrong way for a long time—until the Shepherd/Surgeon brought healing to his life: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)
Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead so that we might have life—real life:
“And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” (2 Corinthians 5:15)
If you know you are headed in the wrong direction about anything—STOP—ask the Shepherd/Surgeon to do what He does best, and He will!