Responsiveness

(Proverbs 19:25 KJV)  Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.

How do you respond to adversity?  That is a hard one to answer accurately.  No one is totally consistent in sailing through rough water.  We have a word for that person, Pollyanna.  God’s patience sees us through our weak moments, but we still have a choice in how we respond.  One of the questions I ask myself is, “What am I supposed to be learning from this?” 

I am going through some personal struggles.  I keep asking myself is this the time to turn the other cheek or to pull a Martin Luther.  You know, “Here I stand...”  Everyone has advice to give but in the end we are responsible for our own answers.  God must speak to me on my level, not yours.  I remember when I was first married and going through the adjustments.  Most of the books written to help young husbands are written by men with type A personalities.  What works for them isn’t within my world.  It took me many books to understand that.

So?  At times God will be forced to teach me the hard way because I am so unresponsive.  My prayer is that I will hear what He is teaching me before I get too many bumps on my head.