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Jun 15, 2024 06:00am

Shifting Gears

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As a young child, I very vividly remember a time my dad took my little brother and me with him when he had errands to run. I can see us sitting in his little Mazda pickup. Windows down, country music serenading us, I sat in the middle of the bench seat, straddling the shifter. Dad pulled up to some place where he needed to just pop in and out for a quick minute. He shifted the truck into park and said something to the effect of, “Guys, I am just going to run in for a sec. I will be right back. Do not touch this (pointing to the shifter). If you do, it will make the truck move.”

We yessired our agreement, and Dad jumped out for his quick errand. I had seen Dad shift to the right and up to make the truck stay in park. I thought, “I will make sure we don’t move. I saw what Dad did. I will just do that again, so surely the truck will really be in park.”

My little brother, who was typically the one who was more prone to rebellious fun, gave me a strange look and said, “Dad said not to touch that.”

I responded to his concern with confusion about its validity. Why would he not understand that I was just double checking that we were parked for absolutely sure?

About that time, we slowly started drifting backward into traffic. A kind, disgruntled woman stood in the road, making sure all of the traffic stayed away from the rolling Mazda with the two young children in tow. Dad came running out of the store, confused and apologetic to the concerned stranger. When he got in the truck, I looked at him with a question mark on my face.

“I am sorry, Dad. I only tried to really make sure we were in park, like you said. I did just like you did,” I explained my rationale while making the shifting motion in the air-to the right and up.

My very patient, forgiving father let out a little laugh, perhaps a bit of a miffed laugh, as he told me that it didn’t work that way. What I couldn’t see was that he had his foot on the clutch and the brake when he shifted. When I tried to “double make sure we were parked” I kicked the gears into neutral, causing us to drift.

The other day, my niece sent me a text telling me her thoughts about what she read in John 5 when the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus after He healed the lame man by the pool in Bethesda, because it was on the Sabbath.

As I read through the story, I felt convicted by my own behavior that often mimics the Pharisees. They took the Law and made up more rules to “make sure they were not going to break any of those laws”, missing the point of the Law completely. They were missing Jesus, Messiah, the promised Savior, as He healed and displayed His majesty, because they were so focused on rules-observing the Sabbath, which was a good thing. They just couldn’t see past the actual rule to the purpose behind it, to what God was doing right in front of them. They were so blinded by their desire to obey rules that they did not obey God.

Throughout the Bible, I find examples of people who are a lot like me- trying to make sure what God wants to happen actually happens by forcing it-trying to MAKE it happen in their own efforts, just like I did with the shifter…and just like I do in my life and the lives of my children.

The Pharisees did this all of the time, enforcing rules upon rules to make sure they avoided disobedience to God’s instructions to the point they missed knowing Him. Sarai tried to force God’s promise of a child through her servant, Hagar, in Genesis 16. Just a few chapters later, in Genesis 25-27, Jacob and his mom schemed to make sure he got the birthright, rather than his older brother. Job’s wife tried to convince him to curse God and give up (Job 2:9).

I, sadly, often find my own reflection in these stories.

I think I can force my children to walk with Jesus by making sure they follow rules, rather than focusing on being like Jesus….I think I can make sure I am doing the work of sharing the gospel by signing up for every single opportunity presented to me, rather than prayerfully seeking how God wants me to serve Him. I think I need to make sure my family is obedient to God’s commands to be in church and tithe….but, really, I am mostly focused on rules, rather than the Ruler.

I can so easily go through the motions without trusting God’s plan and His sovereignty to work out the details. There is no need for me to think I need to “make sure God really has things worked out” by trying to insert myself where He says to just trust Him. I can’t see what He’s doing beyond my very limited view, and I am missing out completely when I try to be the one in charge-the one shifting gears.