‘Out of Control’ was the topic of a post last week, but I think that the issue deserves an even closer look. It is one of the most important things we must learn when following Jesus, and it is a lesson shown over and over again in the Bible.
Let’s look at a few examples.
This was one of King Saul’s problems. Time and again he didn’t wait for instruction from God, he did things his own way. Instead of sacrificing all of his plunder to God, he let his soldiers keep some. Instead of waiting for Samuel to perform a sacrifice, Saul did it himself. He was afraid that a man more popular than him would take his throne, and didn’t trust God to protect the crown He had given him.
But Saul is easy to speak badly of, he is famous for his failure. Even David, the man after God’s own heart, unanimously voted best king of Israel and the guy God gave a promise to for an everlasting kingdom, even David had trouble learning this lesson.
David didn‘t have any problems letting God take control in the beginning; he didn’t have that much to loose when it was just him against Goliath. He trusted God and followed God’s plan. When he was running from Saul and hiding out in the wilderness, he couldn’t do much besides trust God to handle things. It’s when he becomes king, when he gets old and has all sorts of responsibilities and people looking up to him that David seems to forget this important precept.
He orders a census taken. Now, our modern minds think of a census as a good thing. It is an important component of any large civilization. A government needs to know how many people there are to tax them, and to spend the taxes properly. David wanted to know how many fighting men were in his country. God got mad, because David wasn’t relying on HIM to protect Israel anymore, he was relying on the size of his army.
David tried to take control of the situation, and God punished him for it. But Jephthah fared even worse. He tried to bargain with God, strike a deal; victory in battle for a sacrifice. The sacrifice turned out to be his own daughter. Jephthah didn’t trust God to take care of him and his people, he thought he had to find a way to control the situation. It cost him his family.
Rich Mullins is one of my favorite songwriters. He has a way to striking at the heart of an issue, particularly in his song, “Alright. Okay. Uhuh. Amen.” This is what we should be saying to God all the time. Yes, I’ll do what you want, the way you want it. When we try to do things any other way, we fail. The song goes, “I’d rather fight you for something I don’t really want than take what you give that I need.”
Jesus said, ‘Don’t worry,” and he meant it. When we worry, we show God that we don’t trust him. When we worry, we try to take matters into our own hands. We forget that the God who made the universe can and will do whatever he wants. We also forget that, “In all things we works for the good of those who love Him.”
“Those to find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Give God the steering wheel, because it’s the only way to survive.
No comments:
Post a Comment