It has been a long night for me and I welcome the morning with joy. I woke up for one more day that God has given me and I will rejoice in it. I will pour a cup of Door County Chocolate Cherry Coffee later, sit down and ponder my day. I don't foresee a very busy day at all.
Proverbs 25:8 Do not hastily bring others to court, for what will you do when your neighbor brings you to shame.
A sad situation takes place when something happens and we decide to react, judge or lose faith in God and people who might know all of the facts. People tend to jump into the situation reacting to what they think they know,. They judge intent which is easy to do but in 9 out of 10 times they misjudge the intent. Then we suffer the blow ups.
For instance when something bad happens to us many Christians will say "Satan is attacking me". This might be true. But it might also be true that God is sifting us and rooting out things in our lives that really shouldn't be there. We jump to the conclusion that whatever is happening it has to be from Satan. For instance. The loss of a job is painful, but is it from Satan or God? Do we forget that we belong to God and He might be using this loss to make us stronger? Or it might be that He needs us elsewhere. Possibly, did we lose the job because He has something better for us and we need to trust Him?
This applies to people also. We jump to conclusions when Satan removes all filters from our eyes and a person's history. We jump to the conclusion that a person acted in a way to cause harm to us or inconvenience us. For instance while working in the past I have had to rearrange the hours of people or stall on a project for financial reasons. We in management were told to trim without cutting hours and find ways to utilize our work force differently until finances picked up. Inevitably before we could explain the situation the rumor mill took over and it was now doom and gloom, the institution was closing or "They" did this just to ensure a larger bonus for the big shots. I could always predict who would be in my office first. My track record of always taking care of my staff in the best way I could was tossed aside and not remembered. Jumping to those ill informed conclusions caused way too much anxiety. Now if we didn't make the easy changes finances might not improve and the drastic changes would loom ahead. Jumping to conclusions did not give me the benefit of the doubt.
We do this in our homes, work settings, relationships, and churches. We act before we know all the facts and worse yet we act without trusting the other person and their track record.
Once we jump to conclusions we can insult God, others and cause harm that might not be able to be repaired. We add to our anxiety and the anxiety of others. We see that within ourselves we have a selfish spirit that in a moments notice can conjure up conspiracy theories, ill will, and Satanic attack theories.
I really like to think and hope that I am not this type of person and I work hard to stay on an even keel. I do however try to avoid the "Constant Jumpers". They are poison for the soul and hard to love. The best advice I can give on this subject is to "know your audience". If at all possible get out in front of anything that will have a backlash or if you have to, just stay away from the "Jumpers".
In all things pray!
Marty
Quite intuitive.
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