Go Ahead...Keep Provoking Me!

Sometimes in our daily interactions we unwittingly provoke one another.  We might say a word that seems ordinary to us yet turns out to be a major trigger for someone else.  Other times, we know exactly what we are doing when we provoke someone.  We know which buttons to push and what response to expect.  This is especially true among families. 

Even the youngest siblings know just what to say or do to provoke each other.  It doesn't take long at all for married couples to find one another's buttons.  And, of course, everyone has that one family member who always manages to say or do something that makes everyone want to "throw their hands in the air and wave them like they just don't care!"

The Bible is full of provocative characters, but not all of them were provocative in the negative sense.  Some of them learned the power of positive provoking. Jacob, for example, wrestled with an angel who represented God.  He wrestled with the angel all through the night and boldly declared, "I will not let you go until you bless me!" (Genesis 32:24-29)  Jacob's tenacity and faith provoked a response from God, and he (Jacob) was blessed, indeed.

When I was single and wrestling with whether I should settle for being a girlfriend or wait on God to make me a wife, I decided to stop dating until God sent my husband.  Year one went by.  Year two.  Years three, four and five.  I thought surely I had waited long enough, yet I boldly declared like Jacob, "I will not stop waiting until you bless me!"

I continued waiting through year six and into year seven.  At the end of the seventh year, I met Kendrick Curry the man who would become my husband and partner in ministry.  Evidently, my faith and determination to be blessed provoked such a response from God that he blessed me exceedingly, abundantly above all I could have asked or imagined in a husband and family!

Years ago, an organization I worked for was in a dire financial situation.  Several of my colleagues and I had been told that we would have to be let go.  Without discussing it, we all immediately declared that regardless of pay we would not abandon our positions and would at least see all of our projects through to completion.  Within hours of that declaration, we received a major financial contribution that was more than enough to fund our positions.  We had been laid off and rehired before we could even consider packing our things! A friend of mine characterized this as provoking a response from God--the second time in recent months that someone accused me of provoking God.

Faith pushes God's buttons.  God's Word tells us that "without faith, it is impossible to please God; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)  The opposite, therefore, also holds true -- with faith it is possible to please God.  When we please God and diligently seek Him, we provoke a response in which He expresses His pleasure.

The fact that God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him says to me that God likes us to keep pushing His buttons.  It's as if God is saying to us, "Go ahead...keep provoking me!" Not as a threat, but as a promise.

BNcouraged!

Rev. Karen