Common Sense

07/05/2005

We have ants! Yes, even if you live in an RV, ants can invade your home. They probably get in by crawling up the tires or perhaps the hoses that are connected to the water and electricity outside! We cannot leave any bits of food around without soon seeing a line of ants making their way to the food and back out again, I guess they are feeding the entire ant hill with the “prizes” they find!

Now, these are itty-bitty ants, so even though they are annoying, they can quickly be gotten rid of with a good old can of Raid! We spray them and they disappear for a while, eventually reappearing in some other place. Our latest tactic is to put out one of those little ant feeders--they find it, crawl in, and then make their way back to their colony with the bit of poison they found. In a few hours, their little trail disappears, having infected the whole bunch with the poison. It’s quite effective.

But, this message is not to advertise how best to rid your home of ants, but I was thinking about the ants this morning during my prayer time. Why you might ask? What could they possibly have to do with our relationship with God? We shall see…

When we are born on this earth, we enter into a set of ideas that have been established through the generations. So many of these ideas have gone on so long, we have a hard time imagining there might be any other way to live life. It reminds me of the story about the young bride who always cut off the ends of the ham before placing it in the pan to cook it. Each time she did this, her husband would watch her and wonder why? One day he eventually asked her and her reply was, “That’s the way mom always did it.” It got the young woman’s curiosity up though, so when she was with her mother one day, she asked her mom why she always cut the of the ends of the ham off before cooking it. Her mother had a very good reason, she said, “That’s the only way it would fit into the pan.”

Isn’t that how we learn many things in life, by watching others and doing as they do, sometimes even neglecting to ask why it is done that way? Then it becomes so commonplace and we become so set in our ways, we cannot even imagine another way of doing it. It just seems to make perfect common sense.

Which brings me back to the reason why the ants came up during my prayer time this morning--because I am “discussing” the whole issue of common sense with my Father in heaven lately. I was raised in a home where a great deal of common sense was used. Our home was orderly, peaceful and about the best type of environment any child could want during the developing years. I was very blessed as a child, and the older I get, the more I realize that! In later years as Jim and I raised our own children, we used many of the same ideas and child-rearing techniques that were used with us. It seemed to work well enough, with a few tweaks here and there, so why not go with it? So, we did! Now that our boys are grown, it seems to have worked out pretty well. Our boys bring us great joy-- but even so, was it the best plan possible? I begin to wonder about that and a lot of things during this latest struggle with using common sense…

Does God calls us to use common sense or to use His sense? Does He ask us to plan, strategize and organize our lives according to common sense, or does He ask us to ask Him daily for instructions, for help, for the path to follow through each day? And if He does, what happens to common sense in all of that? What if what He seems to be telling us goes against what we have always thought of as common sense? Do we toss the common sense out with yesterday’s garbage, because it is of no use to the new day that has dawned? These are questions I am working through right now with Him…and it is a battle at times!

When the path has been carved, when the traditions have been so deeply ingrained in us, it can be hard to change course. It is so very difficult to say, “I know that’s the way it’s always been done, but maybe that’s not the best way.” It is most challenging to stop, and ask God what He would have us do even if the whole world says, “That’s not the way it should be done.” Who do we call, who do we ask, who has blazed the trail ahead, overriding the path of common sense against all adversity, and gone the way of God instead? There are probably more people out there than we would ever imagine, but when God is calling us to do it, it can seem a lonely, long and a treacherous way through to the other side.

What does the world tell us to do?
“Save your money!”
What does God’s Word say?
Don’t store up treasures on earth…store your treasures in heaven. (Matt. 6:19a-20a)

Our boys would be the first ones to tell you that when they would ask Jim for anything they wanted during their growing up years, his first response to them would be, “Save your money!” We laugh about it now, and I would imagine that when their children are old enough to ask for certain things, those words might come out of their mouths, almost without thinking! It has been deeply ingrained in them.

What else does the world tell us to do?
“Make sure you have enough provisions, because God helps those who help themselves.”
What does God’s Word say?
…don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. (Matthew 6:25 NLT)

If we grow up hearing that, “God helps those who help themselves,” we grow up thinking that it is up to us, no one is going to come to our aid, least of all God Himself. I heard this saying with an addition made to it that I believe is true. It said, “God helps those who help themselves to Him.” Think about that one!

Let’s look at one last thing the world might tell us.
“It’s fine to be concerned about the things of God, but let’s keep our priorities in the right order! After I tend to all my responsibilities, I’ll turn my attention to heavenly concerns.”
What does God’s Word say?
Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
(Matthew 6:32-33 NLT)

I think there is such a key word in that bit of Scripture, it’s the word, “if.” Because if we are mostly concerned about taking care of our own needs, and if we are more focused on the things of this world rather than the things of heaven, will we see the miracle workings of God in our lives to provide for all our needs from day to day? I think we will miss God’s miracles and live only in the shallow plane of this earth and all that it contains and tells us to do. How sad is that? We will, like the rest of the world, believers and unbelievers alike, continue on the same path of common sense that has been carved out for us by those who have gone ahead of us because it seems to work, it really does. Which brings me back to the ants as I watched them the other day, heading for disaster!

We had set out an ant feeder on our end table. It took the ants a bit of time to find it and discover there were “goodies” inside. But, once they did, it was all for one and one for all! The message was passed to the other ants and very quickly they were scurrying back and forth into the feeder and back to their home with their treasure. I watched them for a while, discovering that ants will not carve out their own path. Maybe there are certain ants for that job, but the majority just follow the path that has been already mapped out. And they are very reluctant to veer off of it. As the ants crawled across our table, they met up with a square coaster. It was a rare ant that would miss the trail that had been blazed just up over the tip of one corner of the coaster, down the side for about an inch, then onto the table and across to the feeder that was sitting there. Inside they would go, get their goodies, and then head back out the same exact way they came in. Never going around the end of the coaster, saving themselves from crawling over the top of it, but always going up the side, back down the inch, down the corner they came up and then disappear off into the unknown of ant world, which we could not see. It was quite interesting, although many of you may be saying, “You need to get a life!” HA

Well, we had to leave our friendly little hard-working ants for a few hours, but when we returned home the feeder sat there empty, It had been deserted. Somewhere in their treasure hunt the ants had been sabotaged! They had discovered that the trail that had been blazed by the lead ant and the treasure that had been found was no treasure at all but sure destruction to their colony. The path that seemed so very good, that seemed to hold everything they would need for survival had been their downfall. They had not waited and watched to see if the path was cause for destruction before going ahead and following it themselves. It seemed so sure, they had seen the lead ant go and come back, so it must be just fine…it made perfect common sense…but it was a trap! A trap that was only discovered when all those who followed did so blindly, without searching for the possibility that if they discovered their own path it might lead to the true treasure of nourishments and provisions for themselves and the others.

Then again, this is just a story of some simple little ants. Would we be crazy to draw any conclusion from it and to think that the common sense of those who have blazed the trail ahead of us has no redeeming value to it at all? I mean, God is an orderly God. He is not a God of chaos and confusion. God has perfect timing and perfect precision in the workings of this world. Sometimes to us that precision and timing seems to be the biggest mistake God could have ever made, but in that we might also neglect to see all the times when God’s perfect precision and timing saved us from an untold number of catastrophes in our lives that we will never know about this side of heaven.

In God’s orderliness, in His perfect-ness, sense can be made out of it, even if we don’t understand it all yet in our limited minds. One day, when all is said and done, we will see that all this did make sense, that there was a perfect plan and that we were all a part of it. Each individual life has a role to play, however short or long it may be, just as in the life of a little baby that I recently heard about—a baby that only lived 21 days. Because of that one precious life, many family members made the decision that Jesus was the way to find eternal life. Who knows how many outside of that family will be touched in the same way as the domino effect continues on for the Kingdom of God?

So which path do we choose? The path of common sense, the one blazed out for us by so many that have gone ahead of us, like the ants, or the path of God’s choosing, perhaps not common sense but God’s sense of direction? The Word says, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24 NLT)

…if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you?” (Matt. 6:30 NLT)

Why do we trust the “lead ant” more than we are willing to trust God’s direction for our lives? Why are we so afraid to veer off the path that possibly leads to destruction instead of going in the direction of trusting God with each day we live and waiting upon Him?
Matthew said, “You have so little faith.” (6:30b)

Youch!!!!

With my little ant friends, I could have played god and saved them all. (Sorry ants!) I could have set out a cookie as well as the poison on the table, and I could have “encouraged” at least one ant to follow my finger to the true treasure and veer away from the poison. If it had taken my direction, what a different outcome it would have been. By the time we had returned to our RV hours later, there would have been an entire army of ants making their way back and forth to the cookie!

The question becomes, would there still be those ants who would not veer off the first path that led to the poison? Those not willing to try something new, to trust the direction that I had given them because…who am I anyway?  They can’t see me! They don’t hear me! They have no idea that I’m even watching them or that I’m willing to help them find a better way!

But, we’re not ants! We have a mind, a soul and a spirit, given to us by God Himself so that He can communicate with us, if we are willing to listen!!

“Everything that is now hidden or secret will eventually be brought to light. Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand! And be sure to pay attention to what you hear. The more you do this, the more you will understand—and even more besides. To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But to those who are not listening, even what they have will be taken away from them.”
Mark 4:22-25 (NLT)

If we are not willing to look up and realize that God is watching over us, caring for us, directing us, and guiding us, what will we miss out on in this life? If we live our lives using our own common sense that has been passed down through the generations, and following the leader instead of relying upon the sense of God who knows all, sees all and longs to have an interactive relationship with us, we’ll be as blind, as dumb and as headed for destruction as those ants were!

Now, this is not a license to have a free-for-all!! This is not a license to let mayhem reign! To run off in any direction whether it makes sense or not just because we get it into our heads that we should not just follow blindly behind what we have always known to be common sense. This is a call to wrap ourselves around the word “if” that we talked about earlier! If we are living for God and if we are making the Kingdom of God our primary concern, guess what we will be doing? We will be looking up!! We will be seeking direction from the One watching over us and the path He guides us down will make the most sense!! Guaranteed! We’ll be headed for the cookie!

Will there be times of trouble, times of trial and tribulation? Of course, we cannot escape the world we live in until we escape the world we live in when Jesus comes to take us Home! This is a fallen world, it will always have disasters, heartache and grief beyond words, but through it all, God will lead us Home. He will provide for us and He will guide us upon the path of His peace through all that we must face.

Should the decisions that we make be wise ones? Absolutely! They should be decisions that are prayed about, first of all, and made with the utmost of care and concern for the future God has in store for us.

Will we make mistakes? That goes without saying, But, what we don’t want to do is meet up with some “lead ant” who has seemingly found the greatest treasure ever and head off blindly in that direction figuring if it worked for him, it should work for us too!

Each of our individual lives is important to God! Each pathway through this life is unique, never exactly the same as anyone who has come before us. There is only One Person we can seek out and ask for direction when all that we are facing doesn’t match up with anything we have ever experienced before, and that is God Himself! It is a time when we must be still, be quiet and listen very closely…drawing any bit of encouragement and wisdom that we can from God’s Word and the stories of those who lived miracle lives, not just common sense lives. Those who left behind their fishing nets and all the fish they caught to follow Jesus. Those who built an ark to save their family from the flood, when rain had never before been experienced on this earth. Those who not only witnessed Jesus walking on the water but were willing to get out of the boat and walk on the water too, because Jesus told them they could.

Were these people using common sense? Not much!! But they were living miracles lives because they were walking by faith in the direction of God’s calling, and He never failed them. God has not changed, people have not really changed--we all still struggle and question and doubt and long to get out of the “boat” and be astounded at what God will do to keep us afloat. We will never know what that might look like…until we give it a try!

Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.
Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far
more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His
peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)

Diane