One of our kids would point to my personality type as the culprit, but for whatever reason, I like to think outside the box. While all our kids are musically and/or artistically creative, I tend toward creative thoughts. I find myself asking why things are always done a certain way. It’s fun to come up with unexpected alternatives, often in an attempt to be more efficient or logical—in my version of logic!
For instance, I talked JB into giving away our living room furniture and repurposing that space for ping-pong. Since we never ate in our dining room, I also suggested we convert that room to a cozy sitting/TV room. My logic says, use space for the things you enjoy rather than following tradition. Since it’s our house, we can do whatever we want with the rooms! Now I’m on a quest to convert an old basement bedroom into a DIY home gym. The ideas keep coming and I hope they never stop! (JB may not agree…)
But human creativity cannot compare with God’s. I see Him as an out-of-the-box Creator. Only He would come up with such wild ideas as:
1. Speak the universe into being (Genesis 1:1-31; Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 11:3)
2. Create the first human out of dirt (Genesis 2:7, 3:19)
3. Tell Moses to hold up His staff to part the Red Sea (Exodus 14:16)
4. Supply manna to feed the children of Israel in the wilderness, and create in in such a way that it stays fresh only one day—except on the sixth day of the week! (Exodus 16)
5. Send Israel’s promised Messiah as a baby during hostile Roman occupation (Luke 2:1-7).
The list goes on and on! Turn the page of your Bible and you’ll find God doing something crazy! And I love it! I’m so glad He is God and neither you nor I are. We’d be too predictable, too strict, too “by the book”.
This brings to mind some of Jesus’s innovative solutions. At a wedding, the host ran out of wine and Jesus instructed the servants to fill large containers with water. Jesus turned that water into the wine–of a much higher quality than the host’s original brand (John 2:7-10). When pressed for tax money, Jesus instructed Peter to catch a fish, the mouth of which contained enough money to pay the taxes for both Jesus and Peter (Matthew 17:24-27). And when needing to heal a blind man, Jesus spat on the ground and made mud with the dirt, then promptly put that goop on the man’s eyes! (John 9:6–Not my go-to solution for sure!)
What does this mean for us? Expect the unexpected! The religious leaders of Jesus’s time thought they had God figured out. They studied the Law so intensely that they could spot violators a mile away. We can get caught up in unsolvable problems, such as politics, then get attached to whatever seems like the only logical solutions. But what if God says, “Your answer won’t come through Door #1 or Door #2, but through the window”? Can we handle an out-of-the-box answer? We’d better, because I have a feeling history won’t play out the way anyone has ever expected!
Love it, Carrie – thanks!