Playing the "What If" Game

The other day, I got some bad news. My truck has some issues, and the long and short of it is that the repair costs almost as much as the truck is worth. I decided to shop it around and see what I could get for it.

All day Saturday, I drove around to multiple places seeking appraisals, and while at one of them, I was struck by a conversation with the sales person helping me.

He led with, “I want to help you,” and that he didn’t want to put me in a vehicle I didn’t really want. Great sentiment.

Until, the appraisal came back.

It was a decent offer considering everything, but I wanted to get the opinion of one more repairman before I made any decisions. I wanted multiple options: appraisals, offers, repairs.

This apparently caused his helpfulness to melt away faster than the snow outside.

He then proceeded to question me about getting a newer vehicle with fewer miles and, in theory, fewer issues compared to getting a repair. His exact question was “What if the repair doesn’t actually fix the issue?”

I responded, “Well, if we’re going to play the what-if game, I could purchase a new-to-me vehicle, drive it off the lot, and get in a car wreck. Or maybe the wheel does something funny and flies off.”

He scoffed, raised his eyebrow, and said, “The wheel come off a vehicle with 18,000 miles…”

“Well, anything is possible.”

This was not as intense as it may look like in writing, but it does capture something we deal with everyday: the unknown.

The truth was, I had no intention of buying anything that day. I just wanted to know what he would offer me for my truck as-is.

I’d like to think I was doing a responsible, wise thing by getting multiple repair estimates and multiple appraisals before selling my truck.

The salesmen got irritated, tossing out “what ifs” to pressure me, and clearly did not like it when I returned the same line of questioning.

The world often uses fear to push decisions. Those fears or “what ifs” turn into anxiety unless we put them in God’s hands.

James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

There are plenty of other verses that speak to this such “lean not on your own understanding,” “My thoughts are not Your thoughts,” and even “count the cost”.

All these verses speak to the wisdom that God brings and the peace that follows Him.

But I really love the passage from James because of the part where it says “who gives generously to all without finding fault”. God grants wisdom to those who ask for it (a little reminiscent of Dumbledore, hmm), but extends it to include "without finding fault."

God is not going to question us about the wisdom we seek because it is His. We are not chasing knowledge. We are not playing “what if” games. We are seeking the heart and power of the sovereign God. And He doesn’t just not challenge us for trying to acquire His wisdom­ — He gives it GENEROUSLY! That means freely and abundantly.

This week, life is going to try to overwhelm you, but I encourage you to look to the Prince of Peace — the One who gives His wisdom generously. (And one more note about God’s generosity check out: Ephesians 1:7-8, which describes “...His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” Emphasis mine).

God is ready, willing, and able to lavish His blessings and wisdom to us abundantly, generously, and without finding fault. He loves us and wants us to come to Him.

Will you come to Him this week?

Anyway, I was just thinking...