Now don’t get me wrong.  I don’t think God wants us to say “Oh bother!” to everything that we don’t understand.  Sometimes He walks us through some very confusing situations to wrestle out the truth and for Him to ultimately have victory.

“Oh bother!” isn’t for every situation.  But it is for some.  It can be the route to victory.

Several weeks passed after God’s gracious “Oh bother!” gift, and then, like a ‘good’ Israelite, I failed to remember His leading out of ‘Egypt.’  I found myself trying to understand the situation I wasn’t supposed to understand, churning it over and over in my mind, seeking to discover how it got to where it was and what was really underlying it all.

It was not a fun several days of churning.  In fact, it was quite gloomy.

And heavy.

And miserable.

Then my husband threw me a lifeline.  He reiterated that nothing about it made any sense – not the timing, not the approach, not the content, nor the people.  He reminded me that those aren’t the hallmarks of the Lord: “God is not a God of disorder and confusion but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33).

So all this confusing confusion – well, that’s not God.  And if it’s not God, who and what does that leave?

Uh-oh.

And here I was dwelling on it.

Confusing confusions can grab our focus and attention as we try to un-tease them.  The words repeat in our minds as we seek to understand.  We ruminate about the confusion and ponder it and rehearse it and analyze it from all different angles.  Unfortunately in the process, we can become impacted by the very untruths we’re trying to tease apart.  As we engage in the confusing confusion that is not of the Lord, we fill our minds with things that should instead be sent to the place with the {double hockey sticks}.

How tricky is Satan?

In his craftiness, he can use confusion to get us to repeat in our heads exactly what he wants us to believe.

Then in walks the miserable gloominess.

Instead (I like ‘instead’!), I can choose to accept that I don’t have to understand.  There’s not a lot I need to understand about this confusing confusion other than what I already know:  It’s confusion.  It’s Satan.  And it’s sin.  They’re tricky, messy, hurtful, and untrue.  They bring miserable gloominess.  And they’re not worth dwelling on!

So I’m praying the Lord will help me train my mind to take captive these thoughts about this confusing confusion.  Whenever they try to sneak in, I get to play Pooh Bear.  I get to give them the ol’ “Oh bother!”

Then hum : )