One of the fascinating things about Christian History is the fact that God used the industriousness of the Roman Empire to His advantage. The Romans built roads which made traveling to spread God’s Word easier.
Another was the invention of the Printing Press which enabled mass printing of God’s Word making it accessible to the public.
The question we need to define is the term ‘straight road’ as described, poetically, in Psalm 107 vs 7.
In our delusions of ideological idealism we imagine the easy road. Ideologies and idealism are based on fantasy which are expressions of inadequacies and avoidance of the reality that the world doesn’t revolve around us.
WHY DO I SAY THAT?
To quote, ‘An ideology is a set of opinions or beliefs of a group or an individual. Very often ideology refers to a set of political beliefs or a set of ideas that characterize a particular culture.’ – https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/ideology#:~:text=An%20ideology%20is%20a%20set,socialism%2C%20and%20Marxism%20are%20ideologies.
To quote, ‘Idealism is behavior or thought based on a conception of things as they should be or as one would wish them to be; exist only as ideas in the mind rather than as material objects independent of the mind.’ – https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/idealism#:~:text=noun-,1.,rather%20than%20as%20they%20are
Taking a look at C.S. Lewis’s examination of ideals separated from God, helps us examine ‘the straight road’ outside of wishful thinking, ideologies, and idealism.
In our lives we can experience ideological-trauma when we discover that our thoughts, beliefs, education and idealism doesn’t pan out the way we believe they should. So much so that when we do cry out to God for help and He answers in ways foreign to our imagined expected God-intervention we reject it. A wonderful example of ideology rejecting ‘the straight road’ is the story of the drowning man.
The Drowning Man
A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help.
Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, “Jump in, I can save you.”
The stranded fellow shouted back, “No, it’s OK, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me.”
So the rowboat went on.
Then a motorboat came by. “The fellow in the motorboat shouted, “Jump in, I can save you.”
To this the stranded man said, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.”
So the motorboat went on.
Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, “Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety.”
To this the stranded man again replied, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.”
So the helicopter reluctantly flew away.
Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned. He went to Heaven. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, “I had faith in you but you didn’t save me, you let me drown. I don’t understand why!”
To this God replied, “I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”
We can be so focused on how God should answer that we miss The Way God answers. Much like the Israelites crucifying The Messiah. They were so indoctrinated with the idea of a militant messiah that they missed THEE MESSIAH living amongst them. Gosh, even Jesus’ disciples, who had lived with Him and been taught by Him didn’t get it at first.
We can miss God’s ‘straight road’ by holding onto our ideas of neuro-programmed interpretations of what God’s straight road means. Our unaddressed history, trauma, influences, and conditioning that produces perspectives (ideology/idealism) in us, can seem so right based on familiar, reptitive, and rehearsed narratives we tell ourselves that when help comes we perceive it as a lie, threat, or mirage to trick us.
‘Lifestance Health’ expounds this for us by explaining the ‘Four F’s’ response to trauma or perceived-trauma.
To quote:
‘ Defining The Four F’s of Trauma Response
The four “F’s” of trauma response are commonly referred to as the four primary adaptive responses that individuals may exhibit when faced with threatening or abusive situations.
These various trauma responses may have been learned as a means of survival in childhood, abusive relationships, or severe trauma. The type of response then reoccurs later in life as a default every time the person faces anything they perceive as a threat.
The mental health community broadly recognizes four types of trauma responses:
- Fight
- Flight
- Freeze
- Fawn
These four types of trauma responses can manifest in different ways for different people.
* The fight response is self-preservation and for people using it, it doesn’t matter who they hurt in the process.
* When the threat seems impossible to defeat in a fight, a person may default to leaving the situation entirely.
* Though not as common as fight and flight, the freeze response is one with which many people are familiar. In nature, you might recognize it as “playing possum” – a term that is used to describe an animal playing dead or asleep when threatened. When applied to people, an individual will pause instead of trying to fight the danger or run away.
* Fawning is the least known trauma response, and it is primarily related to people pleasing.’ – https://lifestance.com/blog/four-types-trauma-response/
When we move from ideological idealism to crying out to God, He needs to take us through those beliefs, helping us to unlearn and relearn. God does this by using our reality in practical terms to align our lives to God’s Word and helping us surrender to The Way who is Jesus. When we have lived in the delusion of ideological idealism it comes as a shock that we have been lied to by those who Imprinted our ideologies into us, which in turn creates a knee-jerk reaction to God’s ‘straight road’. Sometimes, actually most times, we react so explosively in the ‘Four F’s’ we miss God’s Answer.
A PERSONAL STORY:
When I went into my first long-term Rehab I was DEFINITELY ideologically deluded about what long-term rehab would be.
I arrived with a 10kg trommel (metal box) filled with hair products, beauty products, tanning serums, and all sorts of spa treatments. I thought that rehab would be like a spa detox center. Boy, was I wrong, 🤣🤣.
On top of which, my insecurity parading as entitlement, I was horrified that rehab was in the middle of the bush, in a rustic setting. I expected pamper-party glam. You know ring the bell and people rush to your woe-is-me fragility.
GOD ANSWERED MY PRAYERS FOR HELP. I, QUICKLY LEARNED THAT WHEN GOD ANSWERS IT MAY NOT BE WHAT WE WANT, BUT, IS ALWAYS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED.
The road to recovery was straight, but my version of a straight road needed to adjusted. The journey out of difficulties also requires mindset changes. Anyone who has tried to recover from anything will tell you it’s, “Steps forward, ten steps back. A shimmy to the left, wiggle to the right. Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. And theeeeeeeeeen eventually the penny drops.”
God is, ALWAYS, ready to answer our cries of distress, lead us along a straight road, but we need to be willing to be wrong about our ideas, and let God walk us shakily, wobbly, and argumentatively (because unlearning automatically does that) along the winding, narrow road that leads us straight towards our Saviour Jesus.
After all, Jesus did tell us upfront that there is no such ideological ideal thing called ‘the easy road’. John 16 vs 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
PRAY THIS:
Father God,
Please help me surrender my ideological idealism to the reality of You as Your Holy Spirit leads me through my circumstances into the promise of freedom through discipline as Jesus was disciplined. Forgive me for believing the world should be as I think it should me. I didn’t realize that I unconsciously was suffering from god-complex. Help me please be quick to learn so that I don’t delay the straight road no matter how tough it seems to travel.
Messiah King Jesus be my Lord and Saviour, leading me home to where You are.
Holy Spirit, where I have unwittingly grieved you, by denying Your prompting in me, please forgive me, and help me listen to You as You want to lead me along good paths that grow me into Christ-likeness.
In Your Holy Name King Jesus
AMEN
#Hayibo 