If you are too careful on a mountain bike, you WILL crash. I proved that yesterday when I went riding on some great trails near my house, the ones behind the Chapel Hill High School. There is one downhill stretch with a lot of turns, roots and gullies. You go around one turn and suddenly you’re heading for a gully that has a short, narrow wood bridge across it that you have to hit just right, which I usually do. But, not yesterday. A little too much speed at first, but then I compensated when I went into the gully, came out the other side headed for a huge root.
I was going too slowly, and my weight was in the wrong place, so instead of the bike bumping over the root, the front tire stuck and over I went. I never crash there. But, I did yesterday. One of those break-your-fall, break-your-wrist crashes. Just sore, today.
But, I was reminded: caution at the wrong time will mess you up. If you are too careful you will achieve the opposite of the desired results. There are moments when you have to give yourself to downhill speed, take the risk.
Okay, so what does that have to do with God? Are you kidding me? Knowing God is the most dangerous, risky thing imaginable. He’ll take you places that permit little safety. Particularly, when those places include other people, which they usually do. And, if you are too careful, you will crash. If you withhold yourself, you might not make it through the gullies, over the roots.
Sure, many of us have managed to ‘domesticate’ God, turning him into an old grandmother, rocking away, or dedicated to making us chicken soup when we are sick. (I grew up with my grandmother living with us, and actually, she wasn’t like that. Think of Aunt Bee with attitude and you’ve got her understood.)
But, that’s not God. You know why the Bible says “Be still, and know that I am God”? (Psalm 46:10) Because in God’s world, sometimes mountains fall into the sea. So, God says that to keep us from panicking, from absolutely crashing.
And, if you are too careful with a God like that, you will crash.