“As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.” (Ecclesiastes 11:5)
This verse reminds us of the mystery–we don’t know how the spirit joins to the body, as we are knit together in the womb or otherwise, and we can’t always see God at work. We often don’t know what he is doing in our lives or others’ lives. But we can trust he does have a plan for us. The question is, are we submitted vessels? Are we driving and going our own way, or are we listening to the Spirit and following in Christ’s footsteps? Are we letting God work in our lives today?
Sometimes, we want to know everything, understand everything. Sometimes we want God to explain himself to us what his plan is so we understand it and so it makes sense to us before we will follow it. Ecclesiastes reminds us it doesn’t work like that. We walk by faith, not by sight. We follow because we know our shepherd’s voice and trust him, not because we necessarily understand his leading and can see why it is rational to do this now. Regarding the Lord, of course. Who but God is worthy of such blind allegiance?
Lord, forgive our stubborn obstinateness. Give us tender hearts attuned to yours, strengthen us to hear your voice, increase our discipline to seek your will, increase our courage to crucify the flesh and follow your leading and guidance even when we don’t understand. More importantly, grant us discernment to know the difference between your spirit and your voice and deceptions of our own heart and the evil one. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.