Talking Like a Foolish Woman

Before you get upset with me about my title, I want to explain. It’s directly taken from Job 2:10.

Job 2:10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

It just so happens that in this story the woman was the one who was not trusting God. This does not mean that men don’t have this problem as well, the point is that if we take our eyes off Jesus for even a second and doubt His goodness, then we are foolish.

It is foolish to not accept the bad as well as the good in our lives. Even though we don’t like to think about the pain of the bad stuff that happens to us, it is usually later that we realize all that God taught us during that time.  It is hard to think about the losses and still keep a positive attitude. You see we think we know what we need. Many of us have merged the lines between need and want. We really do not trust that God will provide. We can do all the right things and still not get what we want. Although I am writing about marriage I think that sometimes we need to go back to the basics and allow ourselves to be parented again. So with that in mind I want to share with you something that we learned while taking parenting classes about 14 years ago. We had been married for about a year and had decided that we wanted to be foster parents. We were expecting our first child and were taking classes provided by the foster care system.

One of the most valuable lessons we learned in the course was to identify the needs of the child. These needs were described as follows. The child needs or has a right to a roof over their head, food, basic clothing, privacy and a place to sleep. Everything else is a privilege and can be taken away at any time.

It is foolish to expect to have all that we want. God knows that will not satisfy us. True satisfaction comes from investing inward. Investing inward is being willing to take the time to read, It is taking the time to discuss our hearts with our spouses without any blame. Investing inwardly often requires sacrifice but the rewards are more precious than silver. The only investment that will always have a good return is the investment in relationships. The most solid of these investments is our relationship with God and second with our spouse.

I really don’t like “what ifs”, especially when they seem to be focused on the worst possible outcome. I suppose this is a personality trait, but I also believe that we are called to think on “whatever is lovely”

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

However, it is sometimes helpful for the purpose of inward investments, contentment, joy or happiness, to consider the value of life based on a “what if” question.

So what if you were to wake up tomorrow in a house filling with smoke. The first thing you think about is your family. You rush to get them all out of the house and are relieved that everyone is ok. Your house burns to the ground with your cars in the garage and you later hear that insurance will not cover the loss due to some clause you were unaware of. While sitting at a restaurant with your family trying to figure out what to do next, You get a phone call from your boss explaining that the economy has taken its toll on his business and he needs to let you go. You start to beg for your job but you get interrupted by gasps from other customers who are now gathering around a television. The reporter says we have been attacked again in at least ten major cities. The reporter trys to maintain composure but fails as he says, “The stock market is crashing like never before, Its over folks! Life as we know it is over”. What if this was to happen to you? Would your value system change? What would be important to you then? The reason I wanted to take this emotional journey with you is for you to consider how you invest your time. What did you spend your money on last month? Did you spend it on things that can be lost in the fire?

My desire here is to help you to prepare for the bad, be ready to weather the storm, but to focus on the good and all the blessings. As the old song goes “Count your blessings, name them one by one”. Try it. I mean now. Stop reading for a moment and name your blessings out loud. …….. Do you feel better? If you don’t then I have not done a very good job of helping you to understand what your needs are. Or maybe you should start over and read this again. And take time to look up the verses I have mentioned. Read!

Read with Me!