Auxiliary

 People who know me know that if I consider you a friend, I’ll needle you on and off as the opportunity arises. I do my part in trying to keep my friends humble, and they do likewise. It’s hard getting through doors with a big head, and if I can aid someone in maintaining perspective, why wouldn’t I? They are my friend, and I expect reciprocity in this area whenever necessary.

Among those I consider friends, a handful have been preparing for the inevitable in America for some time. They say the Lord placed this burden on their heart and provided the means for them to carry out what was needed, and as long as there is balance and we do not put our trust in the arm of the flesh, I take no issue with preparedness.

One night as we were talking over dinner, one of these friends started telling me about a generator he’d just bought, some solar-diesel combo that’s supposed to keep the lights on for a very long time. If the power goes out, and I run out of candles, I know whom I’m going to visit.

Just to be the me I know myself to be, I put a serious expression on my face and asked, “what if it breaks down or has some technical issue?” I can’t say I ruined the mood, but he did get that crease in his brow that told me he was thinking about it. I was half-joking, but the milk had been spilled, and I didn’t have a sponge handy.

We met two weeks later, and he said, “I fixed the problem.” I’d forgotten all about our conversation, and seeing my quizzical look, he said, “I bought a second generator, you know, just in case.”

I succeeded in keeping from smiling because that would not have been nice, but by all accounts, he had fixed the unlikely and improbable imaginary problem. It’s good to have backups. Some people go so far as having backups to their backups, especially when it comes to important matters like manuscripts, essential documents, or generators.

I learned the hard way some fifteen years back when I lost a good eight months of work when my laptop got pinched in London. I was in the airport waiting on a connecting flight, and at the time, I thought it safe enough to catch a few winks. Evidently, it was not as safe as I thought it would be because when I woke up, my bag was gone, along with my laptop and the books I’d been working on. Thankfully my passport was in my jacket pocket, so at least I got to fly home.

No, I didn’t try to speak my laptop back into existence. I know, had I been following certain televangelists, it would have appeared at my feet along with my bag. That’s the way it’s supposed to work, isn’t it?

God’s desire to see us walk in righteousness and truth is such that He even promised us an auxiliary, a backup, just in case some crossroads needed to be decided on quickly and we didn’t have time to run to the Word.

Isaiah 30:21, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, “this is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.”

Not only does God promise that His word will be a light to your path, He promises that if you veer off, if you go to the left or the right, you will hear the Holy Spirit telling you to remain on the path and walk in it.

Back in the day, before everyone started being offended about everything, there was a commercial for an insurance company whose tagline was ‘so simple, even a caveman can do it.’ Walking the path of righteousness is not difficult or complicated. God set up fail-safes and auxiliary protocols to ensure that if you are obedient, you will neither wander nor stray.

God promised you would hear a voice saying, “this is the way; walk in it,” but He never insinuated that you would be restrained, constrained, or forced to do as the voice speaks.

One of the most audacious things I hear from people is having gone off the path, having ignored the voice, having done what they wanted when they wanted, and lived their version of their best life, they come back, and with the innocent face of a toddler who just ate a Costco size jar of Nutella, they ask God why He let them do that.

The Bible said no, and the voice said no, you ignored both and wrecked your life for an hour’s worth of pleasure, but you’re still laying it at God’s feet? How does that work, exactly? Your change oil light’s on, your mechanic says you need an oil change, your engine starts sounding funny, but you ignore it all until it dies in the middle of traffic, then you get angry at everyone else but yourself?

God speaking through a donkey to stop someone happened once. Do you even know any donkeys?

You know what’s evil; you know what’s good. People who call evil good and good evil aren’t doing it out of ignorance; they’re doing it to justify their sin and to deceive others into joining them. You choose whether to follow the narrow path and heed the voice when it tells you not to turn left or right.

Everyone wants to be a saint until it’s time to do what saints do. Everyone wants to possess power until it’s time to surrender their strength for His strength. Everyone wants to be led by God, but only to where they want to go. That’s not the way it works. You heed His word, you obey His voice, you submit to His authority, and He will lead you to green pastures.

Failure to do these things will have you crawling through the mud, eating whatever seems least spoiled, and howling at the moon because a prophetess told you it was your inhibitions keeping you from walking in your calling and not your unrepented of sin.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.