I believe today’s blog is for those of us who find ourselves chewing over the things that perplex us rather like a dog with a bone. Just to clarify that statement, there is a good way to ‘chew’ on things, and just like the cows ruminating on their food, chewing something over can be a way of getting all the nourishment out of it, so chewing things over as a meditative practice is good.
Today I am thinking of the kind of ‘chewing things over’ that leads us deeper into confusion or frustration. Rather like when you try to untangle a ball of string by pulling the end but it just makes all the knotting tighter, and you are less and less able to unravel it. This could be chewing over some personal, or relationship dilemma, a family or work issue, a theological problem, or even something in the political world that vexes you. There are many things that can occupy our minds and tie up our thought process, and even invade our dreams.
We can often feel that if we could just think this thing through a bit more, the solution or wisdom would come. We can even seek to find answers from other people or on the web, and these can be great sources of help, but if we are finding that our confusion is growing with our deliberating, then it’s time to call a halt, and time to find another way to solve our quandries.
It is in such situations that we can find that thanksgiving, can enable us to cut through all the knots and tangles in our thinking, and help us to clarify the issues and the solutions. This is because God is untimately the source of all wisdom. He is also omniscient and, very importantly, extremely kind. I wonder if this is how Solomon came to the decision to ask God for wisdom when he was invited to ask God for whatever he wanted as he became King.
All I know is that when I step back from chewing over a situation, and start thanking God for it then, by implication, I surrender my own thoughts and feelings and begin to receive His. The tension and preoccupation generated by trying to ‘think something through’ goes and I can begin to listen out for ‘the wisdom that comes from heaven’ that is ‘pure, peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere’, James 3:17.
I am not saying that if you start by giving thanks for a difficult situation or relationship that is ‘tying you in knots’ that you will get a direct voice from heaven, but I am suggesting that your thanksgiving will free up your spirit to receive from the Lord the wisdom you need. The wisdom you need may come directly through a scripture, a sermon, or a time of worship, but equally it may come in a variety of ways, some quite unexpected. It could come as you are taking a walk, driving your car, baking a cake, talking to a someone or having a rest. You will recognise it as from the Lord, because it will look and feel right as described by James in the verses above.
There is no shortage of wisdom with God, but sometimes a little deafness on our part. There is also a different time scale with God so, a word of warning here, and that is that when we are chewing something over, we often can’t let go of it until we have an answer or a solution, but if and when we decide to ‘give thanks’ for the situation, we are in fact letting go of it to the Lord and he doesn’t always give immediate answers. Quite often His answers, or the wisdom we need, will come at a later time, as we relax and turn our attention to other things.
So don’t let thanksgiving become an alternative way of chewing things over. Let it be a faith filled turning to the Lord and a ‘letting go’ to Him, saying in effect “over to you Lord”. So when you next find yourself puzzling and chewing over a situation in a way that is knotting you up, use the heaven sent scissors of thanksgiving and free yourself up.
