Wrong Direction Effort

I suck when it comes to relationship and doing what makes my significant other needs. I, instead, do what I think she wants. Sometimes… well most of the times I think I am doing a great job satisfying her needs. I am actually putting forth an effort, then all of a sudden the world comes crashing down. I wasn\’t suppose to bring home flowers….I was suppose to give you a hug to support you and show you that I care. I really have a hard time with this and I think that this whole difference in perspective and needs fuels a lot of marriage problems. Now I don\’t acclaim to be some knowledgeable marriage counselor but through my experience and hearing about others, that seems to be a huge problem. For us guys, we have this terrible connotation that we dont care and we do whatever we want and have no consideration for our partners. When I really think that it is a complete miss understanding for most cases. I know in my own relationship there are sometimes that I am trying so hard and believing that I am doing the right things that will make K happy but when it comes down to the end I realize that I have been pushing on a door that I should have just pulled open. It always ends in a fight too. The guy knows how much effort was put forth, but if the actions weren\’t right the effort goes unnoticed. No matter how hard I push on that door I gain nothing. And all that sweat, hard work and tears result in a argument.

Now, take this concept and place it in to a spiritual light. I think there are a lot of Christians that are doing this in there relationship with God. I think it is way more common than we realize. I think that its way more common in my own life than I care to admit. Too many times I have found my self trying so hard to please God in some area of my life that I totally over look the pull sign right over my head. Its not just in my life tho. I was listening to 2 Samuel on the way to work and two accounts really struck me. Pretty graphic but I believe that it just amplifies the importance of listening to God and not just assume you think you know what he wants from you. The story starts out in

2 Sam. 4:5-12  ⁵ Now Rekab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out for the house of Ish-Bosheth, and they arrived there in the heat of the day while he was taking his noonday rest. ⁶ They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rekab and his brother Baanah slipped away.
 ⁷ They had gone into the house while he was lying on the bed in his bedroom. After they stabbed and killed him, they cut off his head. Taking it with them, they traveled all night by way of the Arabah. ⁸ They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who tried to kill you. This day the LORD has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”
 ⁹ David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble,¹⁰ when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! ¹¹ How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!”
 ¹² So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.

Basically the way I am interprating it is that these two guys went out to take revenge on Saul by killing his son Ish-Bosheth. They thought that this was going to make King David happy. I may be wrong in my interpretation but I think this is what is happening. I am not just picking this one story or account tho, as you can see towards the end of these verses that this same thing happened before. In fact it happened a chapter before with Joab and Abner. Joab killed Abner and David was like, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the LORD concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. ²⁹ May his blood fall on the head of Joab and on his whole family! May Joab’s family never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy<sup class="footnote" style="line-height: 0.5em;" value="[a]\”>[a] or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food.” but that was not what he was referring to in chapter 4. The incident that he was referring to was the man that brought David the news of Saul\’s and Jonathon\’s death. He was struck down. And David said the same thing as before, \”your blood be on your own head.\”

These three accounts where a lot more life taking and serious than my relationship with K. If I make a mistake and forget to bring home milk I wont necessarily be put to death but there is relation to the story on a smaller scale. Then jump up a little more to the relationship that I have with God and it becomes a little more serious. Well, a lot more serious. I wonder how many Christians think that they are on the right path, that think they are pleasing God with their actions, loving him, but they come to his altar and begin to pour out all they have done and God is simple like, \”what is this? I asked you to do something totally different.\” It sorta makes me think about Catholics, or good people. They think they know the way and they are trying so hard to please God, do good things, and earn there way into heaven but in reality for a lot of them they are stuck on the outside of heavens gates pushing. They didn\’t see the sign, \”pull\”.

This is not just a warning to others outside Christianity, but to Christians. Those who think that they are on the right track but they too are on the outside trying to push in. Then the biggest warning goes to me. I don\’t want to be on the out side pushing in. I want to use all my effort doing what God has called me to do. Not killing innocent people, and not doing things that I think will please him. I want to listen to him, pull on the door that he has for me and let his guidance and direction shine through. That is my prayer. Help me to seek you.