Tuesday, February 19, 2008

 

How Will They Know Series

 

Acts 9:3 “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell on the ground….”

 

“I’ll Do it Myself”

 

When my children were little they would often say, “DADDY, I WILL DO IT MYSELF.”  Sometimes we do that to God!

 

I have, in my life, come to recognize the voice of God as He guides me.   It is not that I am unique.  God wishes to guide all of us.  The more we are in the habit of listening the more we will recognize God’s voice.  Most of the time I follow God’s urgings but sometimes I strive to handle my life myself rather than waiting for God.  

 

St. Paul was like this.  He knew that God had something special for him to do.  Instead of listening to God he decided he would take charge of his life himself.  He didn’t wait on God.  He took matters in his own hands and decided for himself what God wanted him to do.   God had other plans for him.  He had planned for him to be a follower and an adherer of the Christian way.    So, God knocked him off his high horse, blinded him, only to bring him to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Paul spent the rest of his life converting the Gentiles and doing God’s will.  We have much of the story of what happened to Paul in Acts and most of the Epistles.   Paul sometimes made mistakes by trying to do things himself.   After independent actions of his own self will, Paul always came to recognize God’s will and returned to follow it. 

 

Sometimes it is hard to follow God’s will because we want to do things ourselves.  Several years ago I had a friendship that had become difficult.  God told me to trust Him and he would work out the problems in that friendship for me.   However, I took matters in my own hand and tried to work it out myself.    The problem was I did not have all the information and it wasn’t time for me to learn a pertinent fact to the difficulty in that friendship.    God told me to trust Him and He would take care of the difficulties of that friendship Himself.      

 

Unfortunately, I kept trying to do it myself.   I thought I knew more than God and I kept interfering.   If I had followed God’s advice and trusted Him everyone would have been much better off.   Now it looks as though without a miracle the friendship is beyond repair.   If I had honored God in this instance everything would have probably been fine by now. 

 

God loves us and when He is saying “no” to us about something He always has a perspective that we lack.   He calls us to trust Him.  In most instances I do, but sometimes I decide I will just do it myself.   Always a bad idea!  

 

 Prayer:

Dear God, help me to trust you in all things.  Help me to remember your knowledge is greater than mine. You know what the future will be and the truth about the past.  Amen.