told you so

I ran across a story in the Bible today that reminds me all too much of myself.

In the book of 2 Kings, chapter 2, we see the prophet Elijah taken up into Heaven on a chariot of fire and horses (which must've been terrifying for anyone who didn't know what was going on).  This is when, as the others in the company of prophets said, the spirit of Elijah was now resting on Elisha, his successor.  They then say:

 ¹⁶They said to him, "Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men, please let them go and search for your master; perhaps ^(Y)the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and cast him on some mountain or into some valley." And he said, "You shall not send."
 ¹⁷But when ^(Z)they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, "Send." They sent therefore fifty men; and they searched three days but did not find him.
 ¹⁸They returned to him while he was staying at Jericho; and he said to them, "Did I not say to you, 'Do not go'?"

Isn't that all too much like us? I know I see myself in those men.  So many times, we have this "brilliant" idea that we think will do so much good. We have it all planned out, then, when we go to God (out of order), we get... "no."

"But it was gonna soooo awesome!"

"nope."

"but we neeeeeeeeed it!"

"no"

"pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!"

"fine"

fast forward 2 weeks

"it didn't work!"

"didn't I say 'no' to begin with?"

Ouch.  Sometimes we may have a "great" idea. It may look good on the surface. Whether it be expanding a facility, taking a new job, quitting a job, etc., you have to have God behind it. Sometimes, our timing may just be off. Sometimes, it's just not a good move. I know that, personally, I tend to argue with God (which is dumb) when I think I've got it all figured out.  However, we can only do so much on our own. Trust in God and His timing.