When God Doesn’t Want It There! (Or, The Futility Of Arguing With God)

I depend heavily on the Holy Spirit’s guidance when doing my Supernal Sunday posts. Today I learned a lesson that needs to be shared.

Typically I have a topic in mind several days before Sunday; sometimes I have no idea what that topic will be when I get up on Sunday morning. Either way, He gives me one. And when I start working on it, He works with me. My spirit is totally aware of Him as I search out verses, illustrations, music, and other parts to put together into a post. So aware, in fact, that I fully expect, were I to turn my head slightly, I’d see Him standing behind, pointing over my shoulder: “Yes, use that one, and that one…no, that will take you away from my intended message…yes, that is what I want…no, put that over there…in this order…” The hours I put into this task every week is so lovely, so fulfilling, so satisfying! There really aren’t words to describe something that exists in such a spiritual sense! (Almost like being in His Word…but I digress…) I look forward to this time as His vessel on Sundays as I carry His messages out to whomever He will bring to see and hear them!

And now – today. Sometimes I think some of the resources He chooses for me are simply to get me prepared, or in the right spirit, to put everything together. In the right frame of mind so to speak. And these don’t make it into the actual post, except that they help to put things together in my own mind as I go. There were 2 illustrations today that I loved so much and wanted to use in the post though. I didn’t think they were some of those “only for my own use” things…and put them where I thought they should go. I previewed the finished Supernal Sunday post, and they weren’t there. That was odd! I started getting the message from over my shoulder: No, I don’t want them there. And I replied, in the spirit, “but they go so beautifully with Your message! Look how balanced they are on the page…right between THIS and THIS…” And again: No, I don’t want them there. But me, being me, left them there anyway, saved my work, and published the post. There!

Only…when I looked at the post on my site, they weren’t there! What?!? I went back to edit it…and there they were…so I updated and looked again – gone! I went so far as to take the post offline, put it back into draft mode, delete that section totally, and re-do it, checking every step of the way to make sure it was correct and I didn’t miss something the first time. Republished it, SURE I’d see them where I’d put them now! But guess what?

God won.

It’s a lesson that I have to relearn all too often.

Though it doesn’t seem like such a Big Deal at the time, we will always find that we lost.

He doesn’t wink at disobedience. He doesn’t chuckle indulgently when we sin.

And God always wins.