Have you ever known someone who, when instructed to NOT do something, they simply can’t resist doing exactly the opposite? I recall an episode of “The Big Bang Theory” where one character is talking about that very thing, and commented that if they hadn’t told her brother to NOT stick his hand in the wood chipper, they probably wouldn’t be calling him Stumpy. Heck, you might be that person yourself. Why is it that we feel the need to do something we are told we shouldn’t do? Once again, we can look all the way back to the Garden of Eden. God told Adam and Eve they were free to eat anything in the garden they wanted EXCEPT for fruit from the tree of knowledge. Then, along comes Satan with his whisperings of deceit. He uses his lies to convince Eve that God wasn’t being truthful. Instead of trusting the instruction of the God who loved and created her, she chose to ignore his guidance and do the one thing she was advised against doing.

We watch people of all ages continue with this same type of rebellion. We, as children of God, are often making choices that put us in the position of learning things the hard way. We know what we are supposed to do, which is ask God for guidance, and then do our best to follow it. There is guidance out the wazoo all throughout the Bible…answers to absolutely any dilemma we might face. Still, we continue to try and reason our way through things. We seek understanding at times when we are least likely to find it, and then suffer anxiety and frustration because we lack the logical reasoning behind things that are going wrong.

One thing we cannot do is expect to always understand why another person makes choices that seem completely without logic or sound reason. We can drive ourselves crazy trying to figure other people out. But guess what? It’s not our place, nor is it our responsibility to figure them out. We are told to love them, forgive them, help them, and pray for them. God already understands them and He is already working on their behalf in the places they most need His help, just as He is doing for each of us. We may be placed in their lives to help Him accomplish some of His work in their lives, but that’s for Him to decide, not us. We are not in charge, we don’t have control, and that is how it’s supposed to be.

So, how do we learn to stop doing the things we know we’re not supposed to do? How do we operate through the fog of uncertainty that is so prevalent in the human condition? How do we move on from pain, rejection, loss, and intense heartache? We take one day, one hour, and sometimes even just one minute at a time, and we walk through it. Then we walk through the next. And then the next. We force ourselves to focus on God, we pray, we spend time reading His Word, and we allow ourselves to feel the pain. Above all else, we continue to hope and trust that whatever life brings, God is with us and we will survive whatever we are facing.

Even the foggiest days can be beautiful, but only if we choose to see past the fog and focus on the beauty. When those we love are fogged in and unable to see through the haze of pain, it is so very important that we reach out and offer them the steadying hand of love. Pain and heartache can be very isolating, making it easy to believe that we are alone in our struggle. God needs us to love one another at all times, and especially during those times of difficulty. They say actions speak louder than words, and it would seem that our Heavenly Father agrees with the sentiment.

“Little children (believers, dear ones), let us not love [merely in theory] with word or with tongue [giving lip service to compassion], but in action and in truth [in practice and in sincerity, because practical acts of love are more than words].” 1 John 3:18 AMP