Most of us, when we are pushed, will push back. When we are pushed harder, we will resist even more. A mother says to her teen-age daughter, "I'd like you to clean your room before you go away for the weekend." "Do I have to?" she groans. "Yes, you must." "I don't want to." "Do it," said the mother, "and that's final!" "No, I won't." And Slam! Bang! go the doors. Very few of us like to be pushed - and that's true of adults, not only youths.

Sometimes, however, God pushes us. God nudges us toward something that we had no intention of doing, in fact, something that we were dead set against. Our same old human tendency is to dig in our heels and fight back with all our might - or at least drag our feet. We are sure we know best for ourselves, and we're not giving in. But doesn't that assume …