Making Rice
I started off with good intentions last night. Hallie came home from work and wasn’t feeling well. So I decided to make gumbo for dinner. How hard could it be? Find the seasoning, cut up a few ingredients, add a little rice and done. It didn’t take long to fill the house with the pleasant aroma of vegetables sautéed in butter with garlic. As the recipe was coming to a close, Hallie asked if I had started the rice. In the midst of focusing on the main part of the meal, I overlooked a simple, but essential part of the meal. I quickly grabbed the box of Uncle Ben’s instant rice, flipped it over to read the directions, and started the process. Rice? Check. Measuring cup? Check. Water? Check. I measured the rice and threw the empty box into the heaping trashcan.
I don’t know about your house, but evidently there is an unspoken contest in our household to see how much trash we can cram into the trashcan. And equally unspoken, is the rule that obligates Daddy to take the trash out. So I quickly pulled the bag out of the can, tidied it up and took it outside to the trashcans behind the garage. The bone chilling cold outside helped to expedite the whole process and I was back in the house in just a few seconds.
I returned to the kitchen counter where my masterpiece dinner was starting to come together. I picked up the rice making process where I had left off… Wait a second. How much water do I need to add to 3 cups of rice? And then it hit me… Yep, I had been in such a hurry and I considered making rice to be such a simple process that I quickly dismissed the directions and threw them into the trash. Now, the information I needed to finish dinner for my family was buried in the trashcan outside. It wasn’t that I didn’t think that I would need the information. The problem is that I was over confident in my ability to make rice that I quickly discarded the instructions.
What a parallel to the way I follow God’s lead in my life every day. I don’t know why I haven’t learned this lesson by now, but the truth is, I treat God the same way I treated Uncle Ben last night. I usually spend just enough time in God’s word to get an idea of what I want to do and then I quickly set it aside, confident in my ability to make things happen. It’s not that I don’t think God’s word is important or that God isn’t interested in helping me. I just become too confident in myself. I find myself jumping ahead in the process to the end result and forget that God also ordains the steps to get there. It’s a humbling moment when you find yourself standing in snow, digging through the trashcan, so that you can break open the overfilled trash bag dripping with goo just to find out how many cups of water you need to make rice. I am thankful that God doesn’t waste moments like these. He uses them. He uses them to awaken our souls and redirect our paths. He uses our mistakes for our good and for His glory.
On my way back into the house last night, I had a moment of repentance. I realized in that moment that my sin wasn’t against Uncle Ben, but God. And as I reentered the warm house where my family waited patiently for their gumbo, the Holy Spirit gently reminded me that his Word is intended to lead us out of the cold darkness into the warmth of His presence. His instructions are not just important; they are essential to our daily journey. I am thankful to have a heavenly Father who gives instruction for my good. He gently leads me through life with his ordained steps of wisdom and he blankets me with the warmth of his grace in those moments that I find myself outside in the cold dark night digging through the trash from following my own wisdom.
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! 2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, 3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! 4 You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. 5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! 6 Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. 8 I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me! 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! 13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word…
105Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:1-16, 105