...This comprehensive setting-things-right that is salvation is GOD’S business, and a most flourishing business it is. Romans 10:2 (The Message)

Have you ever tried to answer your cell phone when you’re checking your emails? At the top of the screen you see two icons – a red phone and a green phone. Theoretically, you can click on the green phone and the person who is calling will be connected to you so that you can carry on a conversation. Unfortunately, it’s my experience that I can click on the green phone and nothing happens. I end up striking that green icon and yelling into my phone trying to connect with the other person. I suspect that it would be easier if I clicked on the red phone and called them back.

Technology is advertised as “energy-saving,” “everything you need at the touch of a button,” or (the one that gets me every time) “It’s as easy as pie!” Of course, this last comment should give me a clue because I’ve never yet figured out how to make a pie!

Starting in the Garden with Adam and Eve, people have been trying to help God out. When Satan told Eve to try an apple, she decided to impress him with her understanding of God’s directions. “We can eat from any tree except this one in the middle of the Garden. We’re not supposed to even touch it, or we’ll die!” Actually, God just said, “Don’t eat from it or you’ll die.” Touching it was ok.

Ever since that time, people have tried helping God. We’ve created rituals and forms, traditions and rites for worshipping God. There isn’t anything wrong with that – until we start to worship those formulas that we created and to insist that other people follow in our footsteps.

Sometimes we even try to edit our conversations with God. We need to confess to God those things that we didn’t quite get right, but sometimes we fudge a little in the confessing so that the situation ends up sounding better than it actually was. We tend to forget that God is everywhere and already knows exactly what happened.

One area where God doesn’t really need our help is in fixing things. We can find ourselves in the midst of a disaster, covered in mud and slinging that mud onto everyone around us. Often, we think of a great way to clean up the mess and we end up just getting more people muddy. God is the only one who knows what needs to happen to keep this world on track. While he enjoys discussing things with us, and he delights in some of our more extravagant “fixes,” he’s still the only one that can take a disaster and turn it into a blessing! Something to think about the next time you “know” the answer and don’t want to bother God with such a small problem.

Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. She is the author of “Jessie’s Corner: Something to Think About,” a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.