I have decided through many thorough and methodical thought processes that my human nature is bizarre. I am to myself, a bit of an enigma. I have a life which is not my own and yet that is the very life I yearn to dominate. I was/am an analytical control freak! I don’t ever just see one situation for what it is. Instead I see a situation with a myriad of possibilities and hang-ups. The frustrating part is that I know better. I know that I am no longer my own, and I know that nothing will change by my worrying about it. I know that I must die to myself daily and that God has promised to be a Father to me. I know I should trust in the Lord with all of my heart, leaning not on my own understanding and in all my ways acknowledge Him and He WILL direct my path!
Shouldn’t that be enough? It is enough! The problem is that I often forget that truth. The world around us is constantly judging our appearance, success rate, ideals, and drive for worldly things etc. I think because of this the warning bells within my old nature immediately start going off and the analyst within takes over. He begins by screaming, “Don’t judge me! I can be normal and successful and everything you think I should be, just you wait and see!” He continues with a hearty dose of doubt and with a truck load of pride. Then the analyst within starts to hide popular memoirs of my mind, usually beginning with promises from God and anything else that will give him friends on the jury(world). I start by analyzing my past, things I could or should have done differently, and then I continue by analyzing my current state of affairs and how they will play a role in my future i.e. What goals do I have for my life? Will these goals support me or a family if my life takes that turn? What should I be doing now to advance myself toward such goals? Are these goals from God or are they just something my surroundings are pushing me towards? Is God using my surroundings to push me towards them? Am I missing the obvious way because I’m to busy analyzing the situation? What about timing should I wait or should I go now? Is there an obvious way?
Does this get me anywhere? No…If anything it distracts me from the truth. The truth is that I must seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to me as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt. 6:33-34) I know that… I just need to hold onto it! There are so many distractions in life…I am so thankful that I have a Father who promised to always love me and who is always there to counsel His children. His Holy Spirit daily gives us the wanting to be…the wanting to be new creations free from the sin that so easily entangles...the wanting to be humble before the God of the universe… the wanting to be set apart and special… the wanting to seek first His kingdom and righteousness etc. And the best part of all is that His Holy Spirit also daily gives us the how to be…the how to be all of the things we can’t be without him…the how to be a new creation… the how be a person who can love his enemies and neighbors just as Christ loves the church... the how to be a man fully dedicated to the Lord etc. He is both our wanting to be and our how to be! (referencing Philipians 2:13)
So my advice to those whose analytical doubts in life are clouding their joy in Christ is this… Rejoice in the Lord always…again I say rejoice, for being in the way the Lord will lead you!
'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
10 comments:
I really resonate with your analytical personality because I myself am thoroughly an analytical person. The sad truth about being analytical is that we miss out on so much relational because of it. I used to think it was a gift, to keep myself from being hurt. What analysis does is [effectively] eliminates the possibility of risk. And as a result, trust is not possible. If you want to have every angle covered, you are eliminating the whole element of trust. Trust in God, or any relationship for that matter.
Adding an analytical mindset to any relationship will be the destruction of it. I've learned that. This applies to every area of life. Especially God. If we are always second guessing or analyzing everything, we leave no room for Him to work. We effectively eliminate Him from our lives. It's tough. Not that God isn't above this, He still reaches down in His grace. However, the relational aspect begins to dwindle.
I wholeheartedly agree with you.
Too True...I wholeheartedly agree with you!!
I also have to agree with the two of you. I too tend to over analyze every situation, worrying about every detail in an attempt to will my own outcome on the situation. Lately I have been learning that in most cases, it is best to just follow God's prompting, without pausing to worry about the how, as only God knows what is truly best for us, and He has only the best intentions for us.
John, it's good to know you're human. I think God has given you so many great gifts and such a loving heart, that I have to admit I can be very jealous of you.
Dear Anonymous:
Thank you very much for the encouraging words!
However, I have to admit that I can be very sneaky when hiding my shameful and less desirable "qualities".
As for being jealous, I can assure you that God can and will (although I'm sure He has already) give you many great gifts and loving heart. He has promised to do so.
Your right Fehr!
Enlightened... that's what I am. I used to think I wasn't a big analyzer... until talking to Dave last night. I am just not a vocal analyzer... but I do "assess" risks and situations and choose what will be the least painful course of action, if at all possible. Sometimes analysis is good. We're not supposed to stay ignorant after all... part of it is for the maturing of ourselves and our faith. However, sadly... a bigger part of it is the control factor, which decreases faith and trust in the one who is, after all, ultimately in control anyway.
hmmm... how can we, all of us such clever people ;) , be so stupid as to think we are in control...
This was a blog I was going to write about... you guys hit it all in your comments. I'm glad I'm not the only Analytical Analyzer in an Analytical world of analyzers.
that would be a very lonely planet
I was analyzing your analyzing the analytical analysit article and found it very analytical. Why did you write it from such a obviously biased analytical perspective? Did you realize that you mentioned analzye (or variants of the root word) only 5 times? I was thinking that such an analytical mind would have perceived that by now and added more to an already analytical assessment.
Post a Comment