As a child, I remember having an urgent desire to help people, especially those I felt needed a champion. Today, that desire has not changed; if anything, this longing has grown stronger. However, I can’t seem to find the impetus to sit down and think about how I can make a direct and unquestionable impact, to fully silence this echo of championing causes to help those in need. Not that I don’t want to.
I love to dress up and look fabulous because it’s just my nature. Quite recently, I received a new wig from my BFF, and I must admit, it has become somewhat of an obsession as I am becoming acclimated to wearing this particular wig. You see, this wig has taken me a bit out of my comfort zone—it’s a big-hair-don’t-care kind of a situation. Assuredly, it looks fabulous, but it will take some getting used to having it on my head.
I share the above as I sit quietly pondering the two situations: my inability to find time to do the things I believe are purposeful in my life, and secondly, creating and sustaining the kind of light spoken of in Isaiah 58 versus an obsession that seriously borders on idolatry. My current reality would innocently escape me if not for the spiritual maturity that comes from a relationship with Christ and Bible reading.
How do we strike a balance and not a rock?
Here’s a bit of perspective.
Moses, while leading the Israelites, was given an instruction from God to speak to the rock, and water would come out of it (Numbers 20:9). Instead, in his anger, he struck the rock. It may have seemed like a small difference in the moment, but it was a deviation from what God had instructed him to do.
And perhaps that is the lesson.
God’s instructions are often bigger than what we can see in the moment. We may not understand why He is asking us to do something a particular way, but our responsibility is not always to understand the entire plan. Sometimes, it is simply to trust Him enough to obey.
When we decide that our way makes more sense, or that what we want in the moment is more important, we run the risk of disrupting what God is doing through us.
It is essential, therefore, to our well-being that we learn to strike a balance in our lives. Not because everything outside of God is wrong, but because everything must find its proper place. We should be able to enjoy the things we love without allowing them to become the things that consume us.
What is your choice? Will you strike the rock or strike a balance?
Yes, I love the hair, and I take it as a metaphor for every other obsession we may have that takes us away from the purpose of our existence. It may not be a wig for you. It could be your career, your appearance, social media, money, relationships, success, recognition, or even something that appears completely harmless.
Anything can become too much when it begins to take the place that belongs to God.
But understand this: God’s work takes the front seat to everything else.
The balance is this: God takes priority, and everything else must find its proper place beneath that priority. That’s our balance as Christians. That is how we speak to the rock instead of striking it.
Striking the rock is us deciding, through emotions, frustration, impatience, or short-sightedness, that we know what is best for us. Take a lesson out of Moses’ book. Sometimes, our greatest mistake is not that we are unwilling to do what God has asked, but that we choose to do it our way.
When we strike the rock and do not strike a balance, we diminish our potential and reduce the opportunity for God to use us to advance His kingdom.
So, what do you want for your life? Are things currently disjointed? Are there things taking up more space in your life than they should?
I urge you to go back to the purposes of God for your life. Find that happy medium where you can enjoy the things you love rather than obsess over them. Where you can dress up, look fabulous, build your career, love people, pursue your dreams and still remember who sits at the centre of it all.
Strike a balance, not the rock.
Who needs a dead-end, anyway?
