Foolishness

There are so many different thoughts swirling around my head at the moment that I'm not sure I can write a coherent post, but I'll give it a shot because I need to sort out my brain somehow.  It's from a whole combination  of things... working (in a small way) to overcome the large family bias in IL adoptions; being aware of the somewhat negative opinions the general public seems to have about the Duggars expecting another baby and by extension large families in general; spending more time than I care to admit reading the blog The Blessing of Verity and the mother's experience giving birth to a daughter with Down Syndrome and their subsequent adoption of an extremely malnourished 9 year old girl; reading about another little girl from the same orphanage who needs a family (if you look at this link, know that this child is 9 years old... my two-year-old girls are larger); thinking about the difference between accepting Jesus as savior and accepting Him as Lord; and then last of all, reading this passage from the book Tirzah (a fictional retelling of the Exodus from the point of view of a young Israelite girl... so far I like it) at lunch yesterday:

[This jumps into the middle of a discussion between Tirzah and her older brother, Ram.  The Israelites are fleeing Egypt and are heading toward the Red Sea.  In this retelling, some of the Israelites think this is foolish as it leads them to a place from which they will not be able to escape the Egyptians if they follow.]

     " 'Who know," Ram answered, jabbing at the dying coals of the fire.  "Surely Yahweh expects us to show reason and good sense.  Moses is old.  How can he be certain he is leading in the direction Yahweh is pleased with?  What if the cloud only goes before us to test our foolishness?  It makes no sense at all to walk into a trap.  How can this be of Yahweh?  Can a foolish thing be from Yahweh?'
      Tirzah shivered from the night air and from something inside.  What if Ram was right?  The shortest route to the land of Canaan was along the coast, but they were far from that now.  On the other side of Shur was a rough track going east through the wilderness.  Instead they were turning south.  Were they lost?  No, that made no sense.  Why then, was everything so complicated, so hard to understand?"

And suddenly, I saw the connection between all those thoughts swirling through my head... and it's all because of studying the book of Isaiah.  (Hang in there, I know this seems random, but I really am heading somewhere.)  We had been looking at the end of chapter 10, where the Lord is saying that there will be a remnant of Israel who will turn to God and that He will then turn His anger against Assyria.

 (v.26) "And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip as when He struck Midian at the rock of Oreb.  And His staff will be over the sea and He will lift it as He did in Egypt." 

Essentially this passage is saying that God is God and He is powerful... more powerful than the very, very strong Assyrian army.  And then two examples are given.  The first is the reference to Midian.  This is the story of Gideon, when the Israelites were faced with a large invading army and instead of sending the whole of the Israelite army against them, God only allows 300 men to go to battle.  It was 300 against thousands, but God allows the Israelites to win.  The second reference is to Egypt, when the Israelites were stuck between the Red Sea and the oncoming Egyptian army and God rescues them by parting the waters and allowing them to escape by walking across on dry land.  Both examples show God's might in the midst of what would seem to be outright foolishness.  It would appear foolish to send only 300 men against an entire army.  It would appear foolish to allow yourself to be trapped between a large sea and a large army.  But both instances allowed God to show His power.

Do you see where I am going now?  All those other things I have mentioned, the world want to call foolish.  DCFS believes it is foolish to want a large family.  Many people think the Duggars are foolish for wanting to welcome another little one into their lives.  Many people, including many doctors, would consider it foolish to allow a child with Down Syndrome to be born.  Many more people would consider it foolish to adopt a nine year old who weighs the same as a newborn and whose prognosis is completely unknown.  Yet in each of these instances, the reason people have made the decisions they have is because they feel the direct call of God on their lives.  Their decisions are based on pleasing God and not on doing what the world would deem sensible.

How much of our lives are we willing to put on the line for God?  Are there decisions you have made in your life because it is sensible even though you sense that God is calling you to greater things?  Are you limiting God by acting in a reasonable way?

I feel as though I am still learning from others further down this road, but there is one thing I am aware of.  The more we make what seem to be crazy decisions because we feel it is the direction God is leading us, the more we can clearly see God work in our lives.  We can only be a witness to miracles if miracles are called for... a rational and sensible life leaves very little room for the miraculous.