Clinging to the World
It has rained a lot since we moved to North Carolina. I laughed and told my husband that I thought we were going to be getting away from the rain after leaving Kodiak, but I’m pretty certain that it’s rained as much as it did there. With rain comes frogs. Lots and lots of them. I’ve lost count of how many of this little guys I’ve found in my house…in the window sill, in my laundry basket (Yep…in the hamper. Nearly scared me to death when he jumped out at me), in my kitchen cabinet. They don’t scare me by any means. They’re those teeny tiny little green frogs and if I wasn’t scared he would actually, you know, get on me, I might would let Noah keep one of them as a pet.
So with all of the rain, I don’t really pay it any attention to see a little green guy hopping around my house or my yard. Jonah just stops and yells “Wog!” while he points his chubby little finger and then he goes about his merry way. The other day while driving home from dropping Noah off at school, I happened to spot one of those tiny guys clinging to my drivers side window. Initially, I panicked. Don’t get me wrong, those things are cute but I didn’t really want one jumping around on me while I was driving. They cause warts you know. Upon further inspection, I saw that he was on the outside, wedged between the window and the visor. I thought of rolling down my window and getting him off, but then…you know…the “getting in the car thing.”
So I left him there.
From where we were back to our house was about 12 miles. And as we drove, I watched as he clung to the window of my car. He didn’t move, he didn’t try to hop or scoot around. He just held on for the ride.
The closer we got to our house, the more I realized that I was rooting for this little frog. Hoping that he would continue to stay still so he could hop off the window safely when we got home. But, he didn’t. The further we drove, the more anxious he got. And in my head I felt myself whispering, “Don’t do that…it’s going to hurt when you let go! You’ll splatter! “
Isn’t that what we do with the God?
Don’t we cling to Him during times of trial, holding onto His word? Holding onto His promises? Staying still within the blessings that he has already told us he had in store?
But then we get antsy. We get bored. We get anxious. We get scared of what God may ask us to do.
So we wiggle. We take one little baby step at a time back into the world. Back into our bad habits. First by justifying our sin with some excuse or another. Then, just throwing it all out the window and going on our way as we please. All the while, God is watching and whispering to us…Don’t do that, dear one. Don’t do that. That’s going to hurt when you splatter…it’s going to hurt when you land, because you aren’t going to land on your feet.
David knew what it meant to cling to God. In Psalm 63:8 he says
My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.
Are we clinging to God right now? Are we clinging to Him, trusting Him to get us through this hard situation we are in right now? Are we clinging to Him knowing that He will provide for our every need? Are we clinging to the promises He has made to us…to prosper us and not to harm us…to give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11)?
Or are we clinging to the world? Are we clinging to the media, to the hype, to the addictions, to the sin and the false hopes of prosperity on this Earth?
