I grew up in a highly religious family and I was led to believe that trusting your gut is you accepting God's way of preservation through the Holy Spirit who resides in you. Yes, that still small voice.
This isn't bible study so I'd leave it there.
A few years ago, I found myself standing at a crowded motor park on a hot afternoon. I had just concluded a volunteer work that had me traveling across three states and I was really eager to get home and be in my own space since I've been away for a month. The sun was unforgiving, sweat was collecting under my shirt and all I wanted was the first vehicle heading in my direction.
Two buses were loading passengers.
The first was almost full and on the other hand the second bus had only a handful of passengers and looked as though it would need another hour before moving.
Naturally, everyone rushed toward the first bus. Including me. I had one foot on the step when something made me stop.To this day, I cannot explain it.
The driver seemed normal. The vehicle looked fine, in fact this vehicle looked neater than the one I later entered. Nothing appeared suspicious. Yet a small voice in my head kept repeating, "Not this one." I stepped away.
A few people behind me seized the opportunity and climbed in. One man even laughed and asked if I was waiting for a special invitation. I smiled awkwardly and joined the second bus instead.
For the next thirty minutes, I questioned my decision. The nearly empty bus sat there doing absolutely nothing while the other vehicle finally pulled away amid cheers from impatient passengers.
I felt foolish. Maybe instincts were just fear wearing a clever disguise. Maybe I had overthought everything. Eventually, our own bus filled up and departed. About forty minutes into the journey, traffic ahead slowed to a crawl.
People began craning their necks through windows. There had been a breakdown.
It was the first bus, fortunately, nobody was hurt. The vehicle had simply developed a serious mechanical fault and stranded its passengers under the scorching sun.
As we slowly passed, I spotted some of the people who had boarded earlier. The man who laughed at me included. I will admit that I felt a tiny, shameful sense of victory. My instincts had been right. Or so I believe.
Years later, another experience taught me the opposite lesson. I met someone whose presence immediately put me on edge. There was no reason for it. They were polite, Helpful and Respectful.
Yet my instincts refused to cooperate. I kept my distance, convinced that something was wrong. Months passed. Nothing happened.Then more months. Still nothing.
In fact, that person eventually became one of the most dependable people I have ever known. The problem wasn't them. The problem was me. I had mistaken unfamiliarity for danger.
As I said in my opening paragraph, I am a strong believer in God and the existence of the supernatural.
Over the years, experience has made me realize that just as God speaks to us through the Holy Ghost there are times that our mind and fear would also speak to us in order to avoid certain unfamiliar situations.
I think they are more like old security guards inside our minds or as my pastor would often say "they are our inner alarm"
They notice patterns before our conscious brains do. Sometimes they spot genuine risks. Other times they sound alarms because something feels different from what we're used to.
That means instincts deserve attention, but not blind obedience but there were times I also wished I obeyed blindly.
An instance was the fire incident with my car a couple of months ago. I was to take my clothes for laundry, they were already packed and I was just waiting for us to be set before I took it into the car.
But something just kept prompting me to go and drop the laundry in the car but I refused as it seemed counter productive to me. Not long after I heard some loud banging on our gate, my car was on fire.
Till today, I feel like if I had listened to that prompting, it probably wouldn't have happened, I might have been able to stop the incident from happening.
Well, that's in the past. Right now when my gut speaks, I listen. Then I ask questions. What am I sensing? What evidence do I have? What evidence am I missing? Is this my fear or the Holy Spirit?
Sometimes I follow the feeling and sometimes I challenge it. And if they occasionally turn out to be wrong or somewhat out of place?
BTW the Holy Spirit is never wrong.
Well, that is part of being human.
After all, even the best security guards can mistake a friend for a stranger now and then.
Image Credit - Chatgpt
