I
tend to be a very intellectual person; I actually enjoy reading old textbooks,
scientific periodicals, and anything that challenges my analytical brain. Scientists have proven that most women
predominantly use the right side of their brains which is artistic and creative
whereas most men predominantly use the left side which is analytical, rational,
and logical. I guess I am not like most
women. When faced with a problem my mind
goes right to work on how to solve it.
Do not get me wrong, I can use the “right” side of my brain in painting
water colors, composing lyrics and music, and writing stories but even in those
my “left” brain strains to take over by making sure I paint realistic scenes
rather than abstracts, writing lyrics and music with a specific mathematical
cadence, and writing non-fiction (like this article) rather than fiction. There is nothing wrong with being
predominantly “left” brain or “right” brain.
We need “right” brain thinkers to come up with ideas and visions like
starting a “soup kitchen” ministry and we need “left” brain thinkers to come up
with the list and process on how to get it going.
Left” brain thinking can be a great blessing but it can trip you up as well. As a “left’ brain thinker I love to reason something out. I have a friend who struggles with a lot of family issues. She will sometimes call me in tears regarding something one of her adult kids has done. Right away my mind tries to come up with ideas on how she can make things better. I have shared these ideas in the past but I have discovered that she does not call me to find out how to fix her problems, but rather just to let off steam regarding the situation. I have learned to be quiet, listen, and then offer to pray. I cannot, with all my intellect, fix her problems, but I can lead her to the One Who CAN help.
Another way I have found my reasoning mind tripping me up is when I try to figure out how God does or has done something. For instance: I read an article that said that the reason the Israelites were able to cross the river Jordan (before they marched around Jericho, Joshua 3-4) is because there was an earthquake a number of miles upriver that diverted the waters. You see, my reasoning mind liked that explanation. Yet when I re-read the account I noted that they walked on “dry ground”. No earthquake can explain that. For a number of months the idea of an earthquake kept coming back to my mind and I kept trying to reason out how the ground could have dried up so quickly. My reasoning created a seed of doubt regarding the validity that a miracle actually took place.
Left” brain thinking can be a great blessing but it can trip you up as well. As a “left’ brain thinker I love to reason something out. I have a friend who struggles with a lot of family issues. She will sometimes call me in tears regarding something one of her adult kids has done. Right away my mind tries to come up with ideas on how she can make things better. I have shared these ideas in the past but I have discovered that she does not call me to find out how to fix her problems, but rather just to let off steam regarding the situation. I have learned to be quiet, listen, and then offer to pray. I cannot, with all my intellect, fix her problems, but I can lead her to the One Who CAN help.
Another way I have found my reasoning mind tripping me up is when I try to figure out how God does or has done something. For instance: I read an article that said that the reason the Israelites were able to cross the river Jordan (before they marched around Jericho, Joshua 3-4) is because there was an earthquake a number of miles upriver that diverted the waters. You see, my reasoning mind liked that explanation. Yet when I re-read the account I noted that they walked on “dry ground”. No earthquake can explain that. For a number of months the idea of an earthquake kept coming back to my mind and I kept trying to reason out how the ground could have dried up so quickly. My reasoning created a seed of doubt regarding the validity that a miracle actually took place.
Seeds
of doubt are just like they sound. They
are little things that hang around like weed seeds and suddenly sprout when we
water them. How do we water them? We give them credence.
I started using reasoning regarding other recorded miracles in God’s Word. There had to be a “logical” reason for how they came about. This reasoning became a major seed that grew and choked the nourishment of God’s Word in my spiritual walk. After a while I found myself just going through the motions of being a Christian: attending church, paying tithes, and singing in the choir. On the outside I was the “good girl” but on the inside I was a powerless spiritual wimp. This all came to a head in December twelve years ago, but, God is good! He led me to read Isaiah 52 and had verse 6 stand out to me:
“Therefore My people shall know what My name is and what it means: therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks; behold, I AM!”
Man’s reasoning cannot stand before the very Creator of what he tries to figure out. Man is man, in all his marvelous but limited and finite ways but God is God, in all His awesome and limitless sovereignty. This is what I learned that December. I saw my reasoning of His ways had demeaned His supremacy in my eyes. I doubted Him! I asked His forgiveness and repented. I started digging into the Word. I made a habit of meeting with Him EVERY morning by reading in His Word and spending time in prayer. I asked Him to show me just Who “I AM” was and He did.
As I write this I pray that each reader receives the conviction from the Holy Spirit they need to see where they may have “reasoned” regarding the things and ways of God. I pray that each reader asks forgiveness from the only One Who can forgive and as each reader repents “I AM” will release them into the fullness of new life He has called each believer to. Listen to the Lord. Do you hear Him calling?
“Incline your ear (submit and consent to the divine will) and come to Me; hear, and your soul will revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with You, even the sure mercy (kindness, goodwill, and compassion) promised to David. Seek, inquire for and require Me while I may be found (claiming Me by necessity and by right); call upon Me while I AM near.” (Isaiah 55:3,6 AMP paraphrased)
I started using reasoning regarding other recorded miracles in God’s Word. There had to be a “logical” reason for how they came about. This reasoning became a major seed that grew and choked the nourishment of God’s Word in my spiritual walk. After a while I found myself just going through the motions of being a Christian: attending church, paying tithes, and singing in the choir. On the outside I was the “good girl” but on the inside I was a powerless spiritual wimp. This all came to a head in December twelve years ago, but, God is good! He led me to read Isaiah 52 and had verse 6 stand out to me:
“Therefore My people shall know what My name is and what it means: therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks; behold, I AM!”
Man’s reasoning cannot stand before the very Creator of what he tries to figure out. Man is man, in all his marvelous but limited and finite ways but God is God, in all His awesome and limitless sovereignty. This is what I learned that December. I saw my reasoning of His ways had demeaned His supremacy in my eyes. I doubted Him! I asked His forgiveness and repented. I started digging into the Word. I made a habit of meeting with Him EVERY morning by reading in His Word and spending time in prayer. I asked Him to show me just Who “I AM” was and He did.
As I write this I pray that each reader receives the conviction from the Holy Spirit they need to see where they may have “reasoned” regarding the things and ways of God. I pray that each reader asks forgiveness from the only One Who can forgive and as each reader repents “I AM” will release them into the fullness of new life He has called each believer to. Listen to the Lord. Do you hear Him calling?
“Incline your ear (submit and consent to the divine will) and come to Me; hear, and your soul will revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with You, even the sure mercy (kindness, goodwill, and compassion) promised to David. Seek, inquire for and require Me while I may be found (claiming Me by necessity and by right); call upon Me while I AM near.” (Isaiah 55:3,6 AMP paraphrased)
