A mother carefully navigates the potluck line with her 4-year-old, two plates in hand. “I want some of that,” he announces, pointing at the salsa labeled “Spicy!!”
“No,” she explains, “That is very spicy and it will hurt your mouth.”
“I want it!”
Torn between protecting him and allowing him to make his own choices, the mother reluctantly helps him put salsa on his plate. He dips his hand in the salsa and happily puts his fingers in his mouth. Triumph turns to horror. The salsa barely touches his tongue before he does everything he can to get it out of his mouth.
How often does God allow us to experience something we want, all the while knowing that it is not His first choice for us? But He grants us the opportunity to make a choice and do it our way.
When the prophet Samuel became old, the leaders of Israel came to him and asked for a king. God made it clear that it wasn’t His choice; He preferred the prophet model of leadership. A king would tax them, conscript their sons for military service and take the best of their servants, their crops and their animals. But the people continued to plead, “We are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations …” (1 Samuel 8:19-20)
Finally, God relented and told Samuel, “Listen to their voice and set a king over them” (verse 22). God knew the story that would unfold and the incredible heartache that would result because of this decision, but He allowed it to happen anyway.
We often long for what is not in our best interest. Whether at work or in personal life, we become determined to have things our way. It’s a challenge to know where to focus our listening — to discern whether to trust our own desires or hear the counsel of those who may have different perspectives.
We are unable to see the broader picture. Perhaps God, in His wisdom, seeks to protect us from ourselves — from heading for a mouthful of spicy salsa! Perhaps there is a better choice than the one we are currently making.
—Kathy McMillan is director of Employee Spiritual Care at Loma Linda University Medical Center.
