2+2=5

“Teenagers: move out, get a job, pay your own bills while you still know everything.”
I saw a sign last week with this text on it and it really resonated with me. I guess there is a part of the seventeen year old in me that can see more value in my own opinions than those of others. I think I’m right, but one of the first lessons I’ve learned in my relentless pursuit is that I’m not. When I begin to trust in my own plans above the plans of my Savior I can really be missing out on a lot of good that God has planned for me. It can really get dangerous when I start to value my own ideas and plans more than the “good, pleasing and perfect will” of God (Romans 12:2)

I can remember a time when I was younger that I would argue with my mom about the exception of the math problem 2+2. I was so convinced that sometimes those numbers added together for a total of 5. There was no telling me otherwise; I just knew that two plus two could sometimes equal five. I would seriously be so angry and frustrated that she did not see how absolutely correct I was in my divine revelation that 2 + 2 equaled 5!

Situations in our lives work a lot like the 2 + 2 math problem. I would see the problem (2) develop my own solution (+2) and always fall short of the correct answer (=5). I would form my own opinion (2) trust in my plan to succeed (+2) and forget that I need to trust God to provide (=5). In raising money for my brother’s treatments I would trust in myself and my family to get him where he needed to be (2+2=5) I would doubt and question God’s plan and timing and decide to act on my own ideas (2+2=5) It wasn’t until we lifted up that financial burden and gave it to Him before he opened our eyes to the correct answer (4) and showed us what he had in mind all along (2+2=4). We trusted God to provide and now Ryan’s first round of treatments this summer are covered (2+2=4).

God is teaching me in my relentless pursuit that I need to learn to trust him and take myself out of the equation. I need to submit myself to the advice of others. I need to humble myself before him and acknowledge that any direction he has me going in is far better than the direction I would choose for myself. God is teaching me that 2+2=4.