A Spiritual Sucker Punch

I kinda feel like this guy looks...

Sucker Punch - Noun - A punch that takes you by surprise, possibly knocking you out or otherwise incapacitating you. Could be an unexpected blow to the stomach or a strike from behind that you, the victim, did not see coming.

A few weekends ago I was the victim of what I'll call a "Holy Sucker Punch".  One of my long time teachers/mentors preached a sermon that went something along the lines of "God should be the author of our life, because he knows what is best for you" but I took it as something along the lines of "Write down all of the hopes, dreams and goals that you have for your life and then tear up that piece of paper because God's plan isn't your plan."

My jaw still aches.

Seriously though, he's right.  And I knew he was right before he said it.  But there is a difference between knowing and believing.

I didn't want to believe it.

I really liked my plans.  I thought they were pretty good.  I even thought my plans were Godly.  But God has been showing me a lot lately, that his plans are far more different from my own than I previously thought.

So I had to ask myself, "How can I get myself back into God's plan?"

Whenever I get off track and can't seem to find my the "Spiritual North" on my life-compass, I break things back down to basics.  For those of you who like me can't remember the definitions of words like like hermeneutics, exegesis, or propitiation, I'm going to break this down real simple like.

God's will is awesome.
There are two parts of God's will.
Those two parts are "specific" and "general".

Specific Will is when God says, "I want you to go to Africa and speak to that tribe with the name you haven't learned how to pronounce yet, because they have no idea who I am."

General Will covers things like, "Don't lie", "Love your neighbor", and "Don't lie about loving your neighbor".

God's general will is our "Spiritual North".  If you feel lost, start by getting your bearings.  Once you know where north is and you start heading in the correct general direction it is much easier to hear God calling out specific instructions to you.

I can also assure you of this.  When you are walking toward's God you can be sure that he's got your back.  He says He will never leave us nor forsake us, but when we leave Him, try to tell Him what to do, and/or tell Him not to be involved in our life He is a gentleman and will not push His way in.  Stay on His path and the number of sucker punches that you will have to deal with will be significantly lessened.

Have you ever had a sermon, a youth group talk, or maybe just a friend give you a talking to that felt like a spiritual sucker punch?  What was it that caught you by surprise?