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A man I know, (now in glory), is reported to have said to disappointed customers, “Well, it’s good enough for who it’s for.” I chuckle when I say that out loud. I’m sure a few people on the receiving end of that line didn’t think it was as funny as I do. Some people are really hard to please. It’s not that we have to settle for shoddy work, but idealism is the ditch on the other side of the road and an unhealthy idealism can creep into everything from home repair to marriage.

At some point in your life, you have probably had to say, “Well, I assumed…” It’s really hard to live life without making some assumptions. Assumptions are not always wrong. However, the consequences of wrong assumptions can be disappointing at best and devastating at worst. Author Steve Cuss wrote, “Assumptions are the way we make meaning out of something we think we know but do not actually know…and some of us are Olympic-level long jumpers in our ability to leap to false conclusions.” When our assumptions are an illusion, our decisions become disconnected from reality.

Sometimes we feel bewildered. To be told, “We don’t think you have “it” anymore,” is a hard pill to swallow. It happens to athletes, blue-collar workers and white-collar workers. It even happened to the prophet/judge Samuel.

Do you ever have a craving? Maybe you crave ice cream or something salty like potato chips. Or maybe you are thirsty, and you have a longing for water. Do you ever have a longing for the Lord? In Psalm 63, David wrote, “My soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You…” Our cravings and longings are often related to our needs or our recognition of those needs. Sadly, more often than not, we need some tough circumstances to remind us of our need for the Lord.

When we make gods in our own image, they tend to be like us with more power. When we make a god in our own image, we can change it, add to the number or even dismiss it as we please. Of course, making gods in our image is backward. According to the Scripture, we have been made in God’s image. However, looking at people right now, in their current state, it’s hard to get a clear picture of God. The “fall” describes the reason for this disconnect.