Who are you blaming?

A few months ago I went to visit my niece in Dallas.  I am not very familiar with the city so everything depends on my GPS. 

I woke up one morning and wanted a cup of coffee.  My niece does not drink coffee so I had to resort to a coffee shop....you guessed it - Starbucks.  I turned on my GPS and headed out.  As expected, it was around 6:30 in the morning.  I knew I would face some traffic.

Unfortunately, a GPS just gets you to where you want to go, it doesn't warn you of construction or closures.  I trusted my GPS and headed out.  According to my device, if I travelled half a mile, turned under the freeway, rode the service road to the first light, I would be scott free to go 4 more miles to the location. 

I went the half mile, turned under the freeway and was stopped at the service road.  From there, it took me 35 minutes to travel another half mile to the light.  What I didn't realize was there was construction on the entire service road.  Cars were just inching through.  The light was short and the crossing traffic often over extended their light causing us to only travel inches at a time.  My fuse was short and I wanted my coffee!

After 35 minutes when I finally got to the light, I wanted to have a conversation with the workers that made this crazy decision.  There entire section of the freeway/service road was blocked.  By this time I just wanted to go home.  When I arrived at the light, instead of turning towards my coffee, I turned the opposite way and headed home on a clear road. 

When I arrived, I told my niece that I just spent over half an hour trying to get coffee.  She advised me that it was totally unnecessary because if I would have turned the opposite direction, I would have been at the new Starbucks in 3 minutes.  Ugh!

I was really upset.  I was frustrated, angry, and now had no coffee.  I bad mouthed every construction worker in my path and the City of Dallas for making me miss my coffee.  Then I took a moment to think about it.  How was it their fault?  I'm the one that relied on my GPS and took that route.  I should have asked my niece where the nearest Starbucks was!  This was my fault!

In life, we often go around blaming God for things in our life that go wrong based on decisions we make. We take off believing we have the best information and then end up in unfavorable or painful situations and we want to blame God. 

It is important to remember that when we go off on our own and take matters in our own hands, God is not going to stop us.  However, when we take the time to talk to God and ask for direction and wisdom in our decisions, he will lead us on the right path.  Who are you blaming for decisions you made on your own?  Trust God enough to ask for direction.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight.  Do not be wise in your own eyes fear the Lord and shun evil.  Proverbs 3:5-7