The Wisdom of Robert

Robert Franklin

John 21:22, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!"

On Friday I got to spend a little over an hour talking with Robert. Physically he is in the realm of the mentally challenged, but spiritually he is such a good soul. And though I wrote down several of his thoughts as we talked one in particular has stuck with me.

Robert said, "The only thing worse than an enemy is someone trying to help you that does not know what they are doing."

Why is it that we can so easily and arrogantly go tromping off into people's lives with all manner of "help," and yet be a big ball of mess ourselves.

From a religious perspective is it that we somehow think God only speaks to, or has relationship with us? Do we forget that we are to be a "living example," and not just an advice machine?

Our calling from God is to be love, to live love, to act love. Not to talk love. This is a difficult thing to start, but a very easy thing to finish. It is difficult to be with someone and not try to solve their problems for them. And yet loving without solving is the very thing we are to do.

Of the referenced scripture Oswald Chambers says, "One of our severest lessons comes from the stubborn refusal to see that we must not interfere in other people's lives. It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interfering with God's order for others. You see a certain person suffering, and you say - He shall not suffer, and I will see that he does not. You put your hand straight in front of God's permissive will to prevent it, and God says - "What is that to thee?" If there is stagnation spiritually, never allow it to go on, but get into God's presence and find out the reason for it. Possibly you will find it is because you have been interfering in the life of another; proposing things you had no right to propose; advising when you had no right to advise. When you do have to give advice to another, God will advise through you with the direct understanding of His Spirit; your part is to be so rightly related to God that His discernment comes through you all the time for the blessing of another soul.

Most of us live on the borders of consciousness - consciously serving, consciously devoted to God. All this is immature, it is not the real life yet. The mature stage is the life of a child which is never conscious; we become so abandoned to God that the consciousness of being used never enters in. When we are consciously being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, there is another stage to be reached, where all consciousness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us is eliminated. A saint is never consciously a saint; a saint is consciously dependent on God."

And here the Holy Spirit takes this lesson, this wisdom of Robert, and weaves it into the lesson of the past week, in being a child of God. As a child, we not only defer to our Father, but we are abandoned to Him. Not consciously His Child, but consciously dependent on Him.

As a result one of the many lessons is; our doing good is not always helpful. Only when it is born out of 100% dependence on Him, and at His instruction is it right.