Do The Math… Just Make Sure to Use God’s Calculus!

Luke 14:28-30 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Luke 14:31-32 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

I have this feeling that I am NOT the only one who has a problem “Doing the Math” but I have always had a problem! Yet in school, I was put in all the college prep math courses (the ones which ALWAYS ruined my GPA) because my mom, who passionately desired for me to be as smart as she was, demanded, from me and told EVERY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR that I was “GOING TO GO TO COLLEGE!” Come hell and/or high water, “MY CHILD WILL BE SMART!”

She was smart… at least as far as book smarts go… she was the VALEDICTORIAN of her class (I think there were 20 of them). She had plans, Bubba! She was going for the gold! She was going to College!!! From farming in a little bitty town in Iowa to the big city school of medicine for a degree in nursing… the oldest of her family and the first to SHOW the way.

In an era where women were rarely encouraged to leave the menfolk to care for themselves (the brothers were the apples of her parent’s eyes – yes, the very same brothers whose diapers she changed and dirty faces she washed), Mom set out, determined to pursue a higher calling in using her gifted mind. She would’ve gone all the way – she was a work of art when it came to discipline… but… she failed in convincing her heart that playtime had to wait its turn, when she met a man whose higher calling was PLAYTIME – which he pursued with his heart. He also was smart, one could say he was HEART SMART.

BOOM!

Doing the math happened (cause it always does), but only AFTER the perfect storm tried its best to destroy any future these two souls might have in freely pursuing happiness and a life worthy of living.

It’s a good thing that man plans and God laughs because, if all of life hinges on our math (or lack of it) and our planning skills, there would be no such thing as freedom, much less happiness and worthwhile living, there would only be Evil and his desire to destroy.

But God…

To any of my family members or people who question the existence of God, my parents are true evidence of a LOVE that binds up the broken-hearted, a SAVIOR Who saves those who are crushed in spirit, and an ABBA (Father) Who delivers His children, those who cry out to Him, from all their troubles (Psalm 34:17-18).

From the foundation that was laid with that moment of, “couldn’t possibly happen to US on the FRIST TIME”, God built a marriage and a family that was predicted by those wiser than Him (or so they thought) to be a complete and utter failure, worthy of no less than the “trash bins” of the poor and foolish. God built and breathed into life, a marriage of almost fifty years, filled its quiver with NINE almost perfect arrows (who of course produced fifty plus arrow juniors). Nine almost perfect arrows who were then fired (is that the right word?) from the bow of Mom and Dad, in order to aim for and hit God’s targets of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. 

I think Mom considered most of her life a failure (I’m sure she heard it enough from the wise fools hovering around her) because of a heart moment. I think she promised herself a “do over” through her children’s lives – especially her girls – where she would take no prisoners when it came to making the right choices. I think Dad was heart-broken mom felt that way and wished he could return them both to the joy of their first love.

Though Mom wasn’t a good archer (she missed the target she was shooting for more than she hit it), both she and Dad provided a LARGE (they weren’t stingy when it came to family planning), secure quiver, a love for their little arrows, and a desire for those arrows to grow up strong and sharp. Humanly speaking, this is as good as it gets… to be sure they didn’t get/give the bling of life, however, I would argue that bling NEVER makes anything or anyone stronger or sharper, it only sparkles for its moment in the sun.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child (our only opportunity) in the way he should go (our only math problem),even when he is old he will not depart from it(can’t begin to count the times I have “channeled” my mother).

My dad and mom did the very best they could do and I am sooooo very grateful for the miracles God wrought in their lives, not the least of which is me and my survival into my own pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They did teach me to count the cost of my plans and actions and consider the other kings I probably would meet in my future. They did try to HELP me CHOOSE the way I SHOULD GO.

Was the way they wanted to send me the way I should go???? I didn’t go that way so we will never know for sure!

I went my own way…

But God… Who was at work in me both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13)… laughed while I planned also! Then He took over my training and taught me His Calculus.

Just as in my “youth” I’m still Math Challenged! But now I’m in God’s classroom.

 I  still sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it… the difference today is I crunch the numbers using my mind which is being transformed rather than conformed… Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that I may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

Then, I sit some more and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand… in addition, today, I take my plans and present them to God for the MOST ACCURATE number crunching… 2 Corinthians 10:5 I am destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and I am are taking every thought captive to the PLAN of Christ, 

Finally… sometimes with blood, sweat, and tears… in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6)

Matthew 5:37 I strive to let my statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is fertile ground for evil to mess with my mind.

This is God’s Math training (not your ordinary college prep course) in me. Maybe He has you in a similar classroom…

Go ahead… Do The Math… Just Make Sure to Use God’s Calculus!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.