Little do we know, we never quite grow out of this need to
be cared for, protected and taught. We just
graduate from one school to the next. Our parents are like elementary teachers meant
to prepare us for higher education. God will become our teacher of things that
our parents could not teach and He has far more self-control than our parents,
who want to coddle us when we really need to suffer the scrapes and bruises of
the fall.
I find myself pondering the idea of protection a lot lately
as have struggled with it more as I have aged. As I think back, I realize that I have
often thought that I am unloved or unworthy of protection because I was not
protected when I felt I should have been. My fleshly nature wants to resent
those who failed to protect me in life. But then God tells me that even though
it’s natural for me to want it, those who failed to protect me too much somehow
did me a favor regardless of how they (or satan) meant for it to impact me.
We have a natural tendency to crave protection because it
makes us feel loved and cherished. We feel great when we are loved and
cherished but the problem is that we don’t grow if we don’t suffer some. And
when we don’t suffer, it keeps us from needing God. But no one likes to suffer…it’s
not part of our plan. It prevents us from this “happiness” we think we deserve.
We have this idea that people don’t love us or that we aren’t
important when we are in the midst of pain from something we think could have
been prevented – by someone else. Many
of us have even resented God at some time or another for allowing something to
happen that we deemed “unfair”. There
are a lot of things in life that are horrible and cruel that I, myself wish I
could have prevented for others but the truth of it all is that He isn’t
sitting up there trying to make life horrible for us. Sometimes things happen
to us with no rhyme or reason.
The glory in it all is that He can make it all
work towards our benefit rather than against us. And when we survive without these things we thought we needed, we realize that the net of God's grace held us all along.
There is flawed thinking in the idea that true love
must not allow one to hurt. The “coddle” mindset we’ve adapted lends to the
narcissistic thinking of our society – “It’s all about me, myself and my pain.”
We, as believers have got to learn the difference in when and how much
protection is too much. Too little protection causes unnecessary hurt but too
much handicapps a person. It takes quite a bit of discernment to know that fine
line of too little – too much.
Here are some truths I have learned that help me combat the “Why
didn’t they protect me” thoughts.
· Read His word daily. Seek to understand His
message.
· Pray often…at least daily but you can never pray
too much.
· Apply His truths to your life actively. This stuff He teaches us
isn’t just words that sound nice. It’s quite logical and practical.
· Let go of your old thought system and be open to
the one He teaches you. Use it to combat the lies in your head.
· Remember that other people are as helpless as
you are. They cannot fix you. They cannot fix themselves. Freeing them from
that burden is a beautiful act of grace.
· Believe that no matter what happens, God can
make you better from it. Better, not by society’s definition, but better in
character and in faith.
·
Keep going no matter how much you hurt and no
matter how badly you feel. “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” Matthew 24:13
We are never really alone, like we think. God can hear our
thoughts, feel our pains and I believe it hurts Him to see us hurt. He wants to
see us grow way past the person we have in our minds that we ought to be but if
we don’t learn how to rely on Him, be obedient to Him, and focus on Him we will
never leave this spot.
