My daughter-in-law recently filmed and posted a hilarious video about her attempts to put drops in the eye of her Golden Retriever, Charlie. He had an eye infection, and right from the beginning it was obvious that he knew he needed help. His idea of help, however, did NOT include having drops put into his eyes three times a day for 10 days…
The video showed how he would sidle up to his human mom, but as soon as she put the eye drops in her hand, he would run away. This happened time and time again until in the end, she finally managed to get the drops in his eye. He always looked so apologetic; yet it didn’t matter how sorry he was for his behaviour, he couldn’t seem to make himself stay long enough to get those drops…
Now if Charlie had been able to talk, I’m pretty sure his communication with his human mommy would have gone something like this:
Charlie (Presenting a paw, ears cocked forward, talk swishing from side to side): “Hi mom!”
Mom (Reaching out to scratch his ears with one hand as she takes his paw with the other): “Charlie! How’s my boy?”
Charlie (Licking the hand gently). “Well I has an eye infection.”
Mom (Examining the offending eye): “Yup! You sure do. You and your brother! He’s got an ear infection!”
Charlie (Backing off a little): “Oh. Sorry brother have ear infection. Please make my eye infection go away! Wait! Is that why you put drops in his ears?”
Mom (Reaching for the eye antibiotic drops left over from the last infection): “Yup! And now it’s YOUR turn! Okay, open up!”
Charlie (Racing away): “NOOOO mom! Not THAT! I asks you to … TAKE IT AWAY! No drops! You MUST take it away!”
And the scene would have repeated itself until “daddy” (read my son) comes home to hold Charlie down…
Charlie (Racing away with his tail tucked between his legs): “No! How cans you do this! I has ‘nough problems wis eye! You give me more! You MUST take away eye infection!”
Am I the only one, or does this scenario sound familiar? Oh, I’ve had my share of dogs and I’ve administered my share of eye drops, but THAT part isn’t what sounds familiar. Rather, I’m afraid that when I have a problem, I become more than a little like Charlie! I run to God, tell Him my problem, and then tell Him to take it away. But when He appears to be reaching for the proverbial bottle of eye drops … in other words, my problem continues and He doesn’t seem to be doing anything constructive about it … I get upset, I turn away, I make it clear to God that this WASN’T at ALL what I needed, and that He should know that. And besides all of this, I would remind Him that He loves me and a loving parent will remove the problem of their child!
Sound familiar now?
But we clearly see in the Charlie vs. eye drops dilemma that the problem isn’t the eye drops at all! Those are exactly what Charlie’s eye needs. The problem is in Charlie’s attitude! He knows best and is upset that mom keeps insisting on doing things her way!
And to take this that proverbial step further, God’s response — or seemingly lack of — is also not the problem. Rather, it is the solution. We just can’t see it.
Why?
Because it doesn’t line up with our vision of God.
We have been so conditioned to treat God as a big “Santa”. We come to believe that His gifts are not gifts at all, but the things that He is in some way required to give us.
Charlie’s problem is that he doesn’t yet have his degree in veterinary science. He doesn’t understand that those eye drops are essential to his problem going away.
Our problem is the same. We have also not yet graduated from the “God of the Universe” university. We don’t see the end from the beginning as God does. We think we KNOW what is right, and God, as a loving Father MUST give it to us! But we aren’t God. We don’t see the end from the beginning. And besides, God doesn’t owe us anything. Everything we have is a gift from Him. Not our earned reward, but a present given out of love. And that present is not necessarily going to look the way we expect it to. Rather, it’s going to look 100% like what we truly need: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (James 1:17 NASB)
You see, we may think the problem is that our eye itches. But God knows that there is bacteria in the eye making it itch and run. Therefore, He applies the heavenly “antibiotic”, and we think He doesn’t love us anymore.
It truly makes you think, doesn’t it?
Four weeks ago, my age-old enemy “IBS” flared up for the first time in years. Or at least, that was my personal diagnosis. I would learn later that I actually had picked up an intestinal parasite… But my initial response was to run to God and ask Him to take it away. Now I’ve been doing this walk with God long enough to know you can’t and shouldn’t “tell” God what He “must” do. Nonetheless, when three weeks had gone by and my gut still hadn’t settled, I couldn’t help wondering if God still loved me enough to heal me…
But God’s purpose wasn’t to take away the “itch” — it wasn’t to heal the IBS, which of course wasn’t IBS at all. It was to take away the “bacteria” … The stress that was wrecking havoc on every part of my health!
It’s interesting that I had to surrender the problem first, which I did on a Friday morning. Then suddenly pieces began to fall into place as to how to reduce my stress. And imagine my joy when my kids showed up suitcase in hand to spend the week with me. Their purpose? to remove my stress for that week while some of the other pieces began to fall into place… And when the proper diagnosis came two days later, they were they to support me through the less-than-pleasure cure!
I thought I wanted God to heal my gut. God loved me enough to want to get at the root of most of my health issues…
What is it that God doesn’t seem to be answering for you? Try total surrender. Giving it to God without telling Him what to do, with a humble acceptance for whatever His response might be. Then sit back and watch how He is at work. Not in the way you expected, but in a much larger, more beneficial way!
God is so good! And let’s remember: “‘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.'” (Jeremiah 29:11 NASB)
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Moderator, Associate Director, Answers2Prayer Ministry
