A Mystery of Interpretation

Have you ever had the experience of being unable to let go of something that was troubling you?

A recent experience continues to come back to me, making me ask myself why did it happen? Most often, I am able to accept that “things happen for a reason,” and then let go. This time, however, it continues to come back to me, and I can still see it first one way, and then another.

I often feel a similar frustration when I read the Bible. There are times when certain passages seem to say one thing to me, and yet other times when I see the same passage with an entirely different point of view.

I’ve been reminded by these situations that perhaps I’m being too controlling, perhaps requiring too many answers. I should probably just “let go” and “accept” whatever it was that happened.  But then, I think maybe I need confirmation that it was okay to not have liked the situation in order to accept it, and move on. But how does a person know WHICH way is the RIGHT way? 

Did I get anything positive from the incident? Perhaps there is something I was meant to learn? I’m unable to think of much.

While my reaction was very strong and very negative, I do see how the pendulum could shift to something positive for someone else. But this kind of discussion leaves me nowhere close to a sense of closure, OR a feeling of peace. How can I resolve my still volatile feelings?  

Suddenly, listening to the words of the song Amazing Grace, this quote came to mind:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.” (Isaiah 55:8) When I located the passage in the Bible, later in the same psalm are these words:  “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth…so shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

And instantly…I had peace! Thank You, God, for allowing me to finally SEE! I will take from the experience what I received from it. I will recognize that others may have received something different from the same experience. But I now know that my reaction was meant for me, and Isaiah 55 tells me that I can finally be okay with it. Thank goodness that the Father didn’t make all of us alike, for most certainly, the world would be a much more boring place in which to live!