Who is the solution to our problems?

Is it the ex who has all our old life who needs to make things right?

Is it the religion that stole everything who needs to come clean and amend?

Is it the job that isn’t paying enough that should pay more?

Is it our children who drive us nuts that need to straighten up?

Is it our relationships that cause us pain when they should love us?

Is it our family who haven’t been there enough for us?

Is it the government who made life difficult that should fix things?

Is it schools or politicians or the police or doctors or lawyers or the wealthy or those in charge of everything that needs to fix our life?

Though all these people, places and things often have a heavy hand in the turmoil of a day or an event… are they the solution? How can they be when they are a problem? Our problem!

Is the solution ourselves?

How can the solution be ourselves when we are the ones with a problem and seeking a solution outside of ourselves or inside ourselves over the issues of our lives? We are the ones needing a solution. Wouldn’t we already have the solution if the solution was us?

Sometimes I am the solution. If a room is messy, I can clean it up. But if I am perplexed and seeking and so utterly defeated in my anger that I start blaming others for their wrongs, and start focusing on others to fix my own life… I have proven self deception. For the real issue isn’t others… but my powerlessness. I have proven “I can’t” so much so that now it is lashing out to others as “the problem”. Yes others do often create problems of course, but the creator of a problem is not the solution… they are problem. An empty gas tank doesn’t need an empty gas tank. It needs gas.

Well. there is always drugs or alcohol, or sex or working non-stop or the gym every day no matter what, or hiding in video games or some other distraction that we can bury our heads into as a solution. But which of these solves our problem? And which of these, going unchecked, doesn’t create more problems?

If I have a problem I cannot solve with my own power, then I need a greater power. But most of us just try harder and harder, because who wishes to admit they are inadequate for the task of managing their own life?

I am inadequate – this is why I need a solution. I do not need a solution to problems I can handle.

Often our friends, our family, our churches, our co-workers, our fellowships and associations do have answers and solutions that might work for us. But how can they offer those ideas until first we admit we need help? And all humans have problems, and cannot always be there for us. All people have issues themselves which they must address also at times first. And the bottom line is this – no other human is responsible for the problems I have. Yes we have a responsibility to help others when we can and when it is possible. Even so, I have a greater responsibility because I am the one with the issue.

I have found no other solution to the personal and important matters of my life – other than God. For in the end, I was most often the problem. It is God who doesn’t fail. It is God who has all power. It is God who has all answers. It is God who knows every path and every turn and the result of every decision. It is God who is my solution.

Was it easy to get to that place? Hell no. I fought tooth and nail to be a rock solid “can do” guy who needed no one. And then life happened where I couldn’t even survive without someone. And those someone’s came not through my seeking of them, but my seeking of God. For by trying to follow God did I meet others along the way doing the same. We stopped blaming everyone and everything and instead took stock of our own strengths and weaknesses. Now I wasn’t alone in my bewilderment. God gave me them. As they admitted their struggles, so did I. As they found solutions, so did I. And we did this not by seeking answers, but by seeking God.

Did God give me a big house and money and property and fame and glory to solve my problems? No. God gave me power in my spirit to see my life differently. I cannot get this power through any earthly means at all. It is only through setting aside what I think is right, and my fear, and my anger, and by asking God for help was it made real. I cannot fake my desire with God, for God is no fool. But when earnestly seeking a better way, admitting my way didn’t work, and open to ideas I never imagined before, and willing to try the new things… did the solution start to come.

The solution wasn’t a matter of my flesh. The solution was a matter of my spirit.

The solution was God

Ryan o0o