You Only See What God Lets You See

You really have to start asking God what you’re doing wrong. It seems extremely obvious once you see that in front of you, but were you putting it into practice before today?

Once you understand that the purpose of your relationship with God is to change you, a lot of missing parts start falling into place. Things you should have realized long ago are brought to your attention.

I inherited some property from my grandparents. My grandfather died first, and he left two very bad, somewhat frivolous wills. The end result was that the things he gave away ended up belonging to six people. We had to pay a law firm $750,000, and every time we wanted to do anything, we had to herd six uncooperative cats and get them all to agree.

Between his death and my grandmother’s death, my grandmother’s estate was planned as well as could be done under the circumstances, but the problems with my grandfather’s stuff bled over into it, so things are still tied up. People have rolled over and given up. It was like trying to push a dead whale up the beach.

I thought about this last week, and I thought about the lessons God had been teaching me. I asked him what I was doing wrong. The answer was that I wasn’t thankful enough. I thought a lot about the aggravation and the screwups, but not as much as I should about the blessing. Naturally, I started working to thank God and praise him.

I felt like I should contact my cousin and see if he wanted to get things moving, but I put it off because my dad was in the process of dropping all of his business affairs on my shoulders. I figured I would do it in a couple of days.

On Wednesday, my cell dinged, and I looked at my messages. My cousin had texted me to ask me for my current email address. He wanted to get moving on the estate stuff.

This is someone I probably haven’t communicated with in five years.

This stuff works. Don’t fool yourself.

One of the problems with getting the estates in order is that my sister has dropped off the face of the earth. She ended up in a shelter before Christmas. My dad and I could not take it any more, so we did not intervene. If that sounds bad, all I can say is, you don’t know her. Everything we try to do for her makes things worse, for her and for us. If you think you can do better, take her in and show me how it’s done.

After talking to my cousin, I knew I had to dig her up so she could receive and sign papers. I didn’t know where she was, so I went through my emails and found the name of the shelter. I prayed for help with this unpleasant job, because I expected to be hit with accusations, slanders, threats, claims that I was persecuting God’s anointed one, and remarks to the effect that I was going to hell. I called the shelter, and the person manning the phone told me they could not confirm or deny that she was there, but they could give her a message.

Thank you again, God. I did not have to talk to her.

I guess the phone person wondered what was wrong with me, because I said “That’s fine!’ in a tone of voice you would expect from a person who had just been told he was healed of cancer. I left my cousin’s contact information with him, and off I went, about my business.

The same basic thing happened with me and my dad.

My dad has memory problems. His doctor called me in last year and told me he had “mild cognitive impairment,” which was a considerable understatement. Things keep getting worse, and I keep getting more involved with my dad’s business affairs. The odd thing about it is that it’s not a gradual decline. It happens in sudden lurches. One month will be like the last, and then there will be an instantaneous change during the course of one week.

Judging by what I’ve seen, he will need an attendant this year, and he will have to stop driving. Truthfully, I don’t think he will be around that long, because the deterioration is accelerating, and dementia eventually causes death. My big goal is to get him to accept salvation. Anything beyond that is just gravy.

One of the big problems with the responsibility transition is that my dad has been claiming his mind was fine. He has held onto responsibilities he should have handed over, so I’ve tried not to push him. As a result, things have gotten somewhat screwed up.

I asked God what I was doing wrong, and I asked him to put an end to the struggle and help me with it. Again, I saw I was not thankful enough. I’m going to inherit what my dad has. That’s a gigantic blessing. I should be more grateful, and I shouldn’t focus on the aggravation. So I tried to correct that.

Yesterday I was talking to my dad about his bills and so on, and he announced that the reason things were in a mess was that two people were trying to run one operation. He said I needed to take everything over, and that he would just sign checks. It was a shock, but it’s exactly what needed to be done. It would have been nice if he had confronted his problem three years ago and started moving responsibilities into my hands, but failing that, this is the best solution.

We all have nagging problems we can’t beat, and one reason–possibly the only reason–is that there are lessons we are resisting. We have an obligation to ask God what we’re doing wrong. Until you do that, you can’t expect much help.

If you look at the Bible, you will see that ancient believers lived under the same conditions. When the Jews had problems, either they asked God why, or a prophet went and told them, in spite of the fact that they hadn’t asked. When they changed their ways, things improved. When they didn’t, things stayed the same or got worse. Sometimes, by the time the prophet showed up, God’s decisions were sealed, and nothing could be done. God knocked Paul off his donkey and told him what he was doing wrong. Jesus himself appeared and told the seven churches what they were doing wrong. It’s not just an Old Testament thing. It’s eternal.

I don’t want to give the impression that I judge my relationship with God by looking at financial issues, but at the same time, financial issues are part of the package. Poverty is not a good thing. It’s a sign that there is an underlying problem. God never “blesses” people with poverty! And the principle I’m talking about applies to relationships, diseases, and all other areas of life. The only reason I’m talking about breakthroughs related to money is that they happen to be the breakthroughs I experienced this week.

What are your stronghold problems? Do you seem destined to die single? Do you have a health problem that won’t go away? Are there vexing people you can’t get away from? Whatever it is, ask God what you’re doing wrong, and remember that if you want him to help you consistently, you have to give 100% of yourself and your wealth to him. You can’t buy blessings a la carte. If you don’t belong to him, you belong to the devil, so there is a limit to what God will do for you.

God has said that his people perished for lack of knowledge. It’s absolutely true. The flip side is that knowledge can make you victorious. Don’t complain and criticize God because he didn’t tell you these things sooner. He told people who came before us, and they let us down. That’s not God’s fault. And anyway, were you even trying? How do you know what God would have told you, had you gotten with his program?

I really want to get my wealth detached from that of my relatives. I don’t want to be unequally yoked with them. I don’t want to share in their curses and problems. I can’t wait to see things start moving.

This morning I asked God about a lot of other problems I have. I expect relief. Finally, I have good reason to expect success.

I feel like I should write more and try to drive important truths home, but there is only so much you can tell people. Sooner or later they have to go to the source and experience things for themselves.