Why Ask Me? Or Stop Bugging Me

Why is it that we don’t consult God or listen for God’s direction/instruction when we are thinking about having a cup of coffee? Yet, when we want to make a decision about our career or life path, we get very ‘God-conscious’. We feel we need to consult with him/her and that we need his/her blessings.

And then, rather inconveniently for us, we find that, for some reason, God decides to mumble or mutter or speak incoherently so that we have difficulty discerning/hearing what he/she has to say. And sometimes, it seems that God won’t speak to us at all and chooses to let us sweat it out for a bit before he/she decides to attend to our case.

What a God! And what a relationship we seem to have with this God. Rather like my bank manager and the relationship I have with him!

So, I guess, the question I am really asking is: What are we so afraid of that we feel we can only proceed with a decision when we have God’s backing? Or put another way, why do we feel the need for God’s approval, direction/intervention when the ‘stakes’ are perceived to be high but not when they are perceived to be low? Is this our fail-safe should things not ‘work out’?

Come to think of it, the bank manager analogy is starting to fit better and better. I should think this through.

Okay, here is how I see it.

I don’t have the best credit history with my bank. I haven’t overdrawn massively so as to cause either of us concern but neither have I kept my balance at a consistently healthy level. For this reason and the fact that I really don’t have a steady income, I am inclined to feel a little ‘undeserving’ and ‘small’ in the presence of my bank manager. I am not suggesting that the former justifies the latter. All I am saying is that the former seems to result in the latter.

Anyway, for most of my daily transactions, I have no need to consult my bank manager and so I transact confidently without any hesitation. But lately, I’ve been thinking of getting a personal loan from my bank and, oops, I realize I shall have to speak to my bank manager.

So I call to make an appointment. He picks up the phone but quickly excuses himself as soon as I tell him what I want to see him about. He makes some vague excuse about a meeting he should have been in five minutes ago and says he’ll call me back. But he doesn’t. So I’m still waiting….