My Adverse Reaction
A few years ago, I got grumpy because I didn’t like the paint color my bosses choose for the interior walls where I work. Now the Lord didn’t mind me having an adverse reaction. He created me to have strong feelings about everything. I often joke that I’m passionate about the color of my socks. So it’s very natural for me to have a forceful opinion.
But what does Jesus care about? Certainly not paint colors. Instead, Christ cares about people and how we treat each other.
So the Holy Spirit swiftly corrected my attitude. Having pitched a minor fit, I needed to let the matter drop out of my vocabulary. Forever. So I did.
Afterwards, Jesus reminded me of a paint color I once chose.
My own Paint Color Mistake
When my brother and I were teenagers, Mom said she would paint our bedrooms any color we wanted. Chris chose a beautiful sky blue for his ceiling and walls. I chose a green apple color. 
Looking back, I think mom had professional painters do our rooms the 1st time.
But after a year or two, I changed my mind; I wanted a dark forest green instead. So I repainted the walls—mom probably helped—but I flunked out on the ceiling. For the next several years, my room had dark green walls with a green apple ceiling. But looking up, I always saw two short, dark roller strokes over the green apple.
It made the room rather dark. But Mom had said I could choose my own colors. So she gave me grace. My mother continued to love and support me even when I made a color choice she didn’t like. In fact, she never said a word. After I graduated from college, I came home to visit. Mom had repainted my room a pretty white. It must have taken 2-3 coats. The bedspread had a blue and white pattern and the curtains were a darker blue. My old room looked fresh, clean and inviting.
God gives each of us grace too.
When God Overruled His Prophet
The Lord doesn’t choose to overrule us when we make bad choices. Honestly, sometimes I wish He would.
Of course, the prophet Jonah wouldn’t agree with me!
In the Bible, Jonah is the only one whose rebellious choice is hijacked by God. The Almighty stopped him from drowning, got him swallowed up by a living underwater submersible and then let his traumatized prophet “reconsider” his recent choice to defy the Almighty and run away. I don’t know where Jonah was when the fish vomited him up, but God immediately repeated His command.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” (Jonah 3:1-2 NIV)
Surprisingly, Jonah got the idea that the Lord really wanted him to go to Nineveh.
For the rest of us, our bad choices aren’t sabotaged, but they do have painful consequences. Often those consequences cause us to start traveling in a more godly direction.
These images came from Pixabay.com.
Resources:
I wrote an earlier post about Jonah’s story; just click When God put Jonah in “Time-Out.”. Interestingly, the pagan sailors had more reverence for the God of the Hebrews than His prophet did.
