Babble on in Babylon

No, not  “Do you believe in God?”  Do you believe what God says?  Personally, signs point to “No” for myself.

The 3 of you reading this wonder what I could be talking about, because you know me.  I’m the one that discontinued use of birth control pills, because certain abortifacient properties of these pills were revealed to me.  Also the one who home schools our oldest child because I believe God called me to it.  And I’m a willing part of our tithing - giving 10% of our income, off the top, back to God, even though it means shopping at Goodwill from now on.  So if I don’t believe God, who does?

Let me share this illustration that was shared with me by a wise woman who taught difficult lessons.

One day you wake up and discover that your back yard is the site of buried treasure.  The source is so reliable you have no choice but to believe it.  Not to mention you want  to believe it - we’re talking about living-in-the-lap-of-luxury for the rest-of-your-life treasure.  Gold and silver and platinum.  Rubies the size of your fist.  You know, like the Goonies found and threw at those stupid old golf course developers.

Ok, back on task!  Stop thinking about Chunk and focus, people!

So.  Treasure.  In your back yard.  It’s right there.  You are so out there, already digging, my friend.

Oh wait - I forgot to mention.  It’s there, yeh, but it’s 50 feet down.  (clank.)  That’s the sound of the shovel falling out of your hand as you reach for the Yellow Pages to rent some heavy machinery.

Hey while you’re renting those digging machines, go ahead and rent some heavy-duty industrial lights while you’re at it, because I haven’t told you some of the rules yet.

Rules?  What stinkin’ rules?   There’s no rules, there’s money in the dirt in my backyard, and I’m going to get it.  Right?  Right.

Nope, it’s my illustration and I get to make up the rules.  Rule #1 - the only person allowed to dig is YOU.  Nobody else can do it for you.  Rule #2 - you can only dig between the hours of 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.  Thus, the lighting, see?  Wouldn’t want to miss $25,ooo worth of gold because you cheaped out on the lights and the sun hasn’t come up yet.

Now here’s what I DO believe:  if this were a true scenario, if there really was treasure in my backyard, and I was limited by these rules, it is an absolute certainty that I would be out there every morning of my life, ready and waiting for the clock to tick 5:00 a.m. so I could start digging for the day.  I seriously doubt I would ever, not even once, be laying up in my soft warm bed, slapping at the alarm clock(or Chris, whichever my hand hit first) avoiding getting up and going out there and digging for all I was worth.  Because finding that gold would mean finding big piles of money.  And money is nice, ‘cept when you don’t have none.

The aforementioned Chris (the one that gets punched when the alarm clock goes off) likes to remind me of this little nugget from Trains, Planes and Automobiles.  this

So here’s the point:

My daughter, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.  Proverbs 2:1

Receive my instruction rather than silver; knowledge rather than choice gold.  Proverbs 8:10

My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold; my yield than choice silver. Proverbs 8:19

If I believed what God is saying, (which is, btw, that He has much better things in mind for me than shiny metal and lumps of pretty rock) wouldn’t I be up every morning searching for his wisdom?  Wouldn’t I be ready and waiting for him to bestow riches on me, before my children could wake up and distract me with their precious requests for “miiiillllk CHOCwit”?  Would I really drag out of bed and stumble in here to the computer, to check the same old lame junk e-mail instead of opening up my Bible and asking for Him to really wow me with His love today?  That’s the question - Do I believe God.  I feel just like the man in Luke 9:24 who said “Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!”

P.S.  I learned to use obscure title references from my little sister .  Enjoy!

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