PROBLEMS,
SOLUTIONS TO

SOMETIMES the solutions we seek from God are quite unexpected. He may tell us to do something that doesn’t make sense or that contradicts our natural reactions or responses.

We’ve all seen movies where people get stuck in quicksand. Quicksand is, very simply, sand and water. The problem is that the water loosens up the sand so that the sand is not compact and there is nothing to stand on. Compacted sand is a surface that can support a person and give them something to move on. Once you mix that same sand with water, all of a sudden there’s no traction left.

The problem is, when a person gets stuck in quicksand, the harder they try to get out, the deeper and faster they go under. The harder they try, the worse things get because the nature of quicksand is to pull them down the more they try and move.

Now, the person who gets stuck in quicksand who knows how to handle it doesn’t fight to stay up.

What they do is slowly paddle underneath, moving an inch here and an inch there, until hopefully they can get to a bank. The nature of some problems is that the harder you try to get out of it, the deeper you’re going to wind up in it. Sometimes the answer to a problem is not a commonly prescribed approach to it.734

[God’s Ways, Unpredictability of]