Yesterday at work I was trying to figure out how to test something. I set things up to the point where I needed to force an error to occur so that I could ensure our system handled the situation properly. It was a part of the system that I wasn’t as familiar with and I had looked at a button labelled “Draw 1 Winner” and obviously the next thing that would happen is a single winner would be selected and presented for approval. The potential error I needed to test could occur somewhere in the midst of that process and I could not figure out how I could intercept the process to do my testing.
I asked a colleague and he told me the process that he had used and after listening, smiling and patiently waiting for him to finish, I immediately dismissed his method as it obviously didn’t fit with the situation I was dealing with. I assumed he must have been referring to a different part of the system and moved on to finding another solution.
I subsequently spent the next couple of hours looking at different ideas and trying different things. Only after I realized that my assumptions on how things worked were completely incorrect did I finally come back to the instructions that my colleague had given a number of hours ago.
When I am sure that I know something and I have confidence in that, it will almost be impossible for me to see something that contradicts what I “know”.
Just a little while ago I was having breakfast with my brother at my house. I had cooked eggs in my “non-stick” frypan and was busy complaining about having to scrape the eggs off my pan when he suggested using a cast iron skillet as he had plenty of friends who swore by them for cooking eggs.
Because of my previous experiences with the cast iron skillet in cooking things and having them stick I again immediately dismiss the idea as having no chance of working.
The following day however the cast iron skillet just happened to be out (I think that was my wife hinting, thank you honey) so I decided what the heck I would give it a try to prove to myself how terrible it would be. After a minute of heating, I poured on the oil and cracked the eggs. The eggs cooked perfectly slid off the pan and were tastier than any other fried eggs I have previously cooked.
The biggest blocker to me receiving revelation is what I think I know.
Jesus said
I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. (Matthew 11:25, NIV)
To receive from Father I must come with an open heart that is ready like a child to receive without holding on to any of my adult wisdom and learning.
Hearts on a Journey 