Should or Ought Not

What say you to a life misunderstood?

Try as one may trying as one could…

and if they thought they were doing the right thing?

But in the end neglected a few thoughts…

not to the absence of effort but to human error alone

then would you judge them harshly?

And what if their hearts knew no better?

What if their pain kept them lost?

Or their attempts were made in hopes of showing strength?

Oh, woe is me if I am wrong,

and my steadfast decisions fail me.

For much will be lost,

but I can’t see what would have been gained.

For my thoughts fail me again!

The strife and trouble to chase in vain,

I feel would cause more sorrow, more pain.

Would it have won a soul?

That is why I refrain.

Judge me not nor my opposition.

For I fear they are in the same spot,

but I fear their lack of participation 

On another lot.

Enabled too much? Maybe.

Or addiction may fog how they see.

Either way we are both to blame

I’m just not sure who more,

them or me.

Is it only in our confessions that we hear the truth of our sins from a human voice? I can attest that even then, there is a repellent layer to my heart that can only be penetrated by our Father above. I hear Your voice in my heart when I am doing wrong, and by the time it touches my lips, I should be aware of how deadly my infection is. The harsh reality isn’t that I can’t hear. It is that I refuse to accept what is being said. This is not new. The Old Testament is full of stories about how God talks to humans, humans hear, and humans deny their wrongdoings to the level God exposes. The wrestle then always ends in pride or humility, in the should or ought not.

Those of us who seek God love to hear His voce, even if it is to chastise. But if you are human like me, I wonder if you too stop at the hearing and justify that since you heard it you are safe and can just acknowlege and move on? When a child falls and scrapes thier knee, we as caretakers call the child to us, comfort them, tend the wound, and talk to them about the fall and encourage them on thier next adventure. What if the child falls scrapes their knee, we go to them, we encourage them, but they instead say, ” I know! I know!” and then they run off without cleaning out the wound or tending to it? The cleaning, the tending, and the converstation about the fall would not happen, and the infection would set in and a bigger problem would result. I wonder how often we might do this? We fall, we hear the voice to come and get help, we acknowlegde, we may even go and get comfort, but we don’t stay for the converstation, the cleaning, the bandaid, the redirection?

Hosea paints a picture of God calling to His people, they have fallen, they are entangled in sin, they hear God, but they are lost in thier own ways to stop and let Him tend thier wounds, to repent for thier sins, to seek what God really wants from them. Hosea, chapter NKJV 5:4 says, “They do not direct their deeds toward turning to thier God, for the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, and they do not know the Lord.” They are so emeshed in thier sins that (like a repelant layer) they do not know the Lord. They hear but they cannot and do not truly stop and return to the Lord.

Our God is loving. He wants us to seek Him and His ways. He speaks to our hearts. He is there in the quiet places. Are we listening? Better yet, are we responding? Are we wrestling, or are we surrendering? We all need our scrapes and wounds tended to. We all need to take a moment and listen to what our God asks of us. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on our own understandings but in all ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct our paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6.

We need to get this friend. It is not about us, but it starts with us.

Lord help us not only hear You but help us to turn to You, to repent and ask You to tend our wounds and show us the way to healing. We want to be useful for Your plan. We want to bring You glory. Help us admit we don’t know how to do it and help our heart posture to say Your will be done. Teach us what we should and ought not. In Jesus name I ask, Amen.