During my quiet time today I was reading in 2 Chronicles. I have to admit... I struggle with the Old Testament. And, please don't think less of me, I tend to really wonder if it has any application to my life... afterall, it's all about me, right (wink, wink). But, today, God really spoke to me through the Old Testament and through Jehoshaphat defeating Moab and Ammon. I won't tell you the whole story but specifically I was reading in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 (mainly vs. 14-25). And what I learned through reading today is that I am not in charge of God.
So often a circumstance comes up in my life and I "do the good thing" and pray about it. But, sometimes, my prayers are honestly mislead. Because, instead of crying out to God and praising Him for who He is... I tell him the problem and what needs to happen to solve it. But, what if those prayers have been keeping me from God's blessings? What if God's solution was better than mine? Chances are it would be...He is the creator of the universe! He might have some insight or wisdom that I don't!!
So, from now on I want my prayers to be less of a to-do list for God and more of a praise to Him. He knows what I need and He knows where I am at. He wants to hear what I am feeling... but He doesn't need help answering my prayers. I want to give God room to do His will in my life and not my own will! So next time I feel the need to pray about God delivering me from, say, physical pain, maybe I should just say, "God, I am in pain. I don't like it. Please do Your will in me through this and help me to have Your peace throughout this time." Instead of, "make me feel better immediatly!" Because who knows how He might choose to use pain or any other rough time.
Anyway, I hope this rambling has made sense. It is sometimes hard to put God's amazing teaching into words! But, I guess what I am saying is, I am not in charge of God and I want to try to put that into practice more in my everyday life! And instead of telling God what to do, I want to go into hardships proclaiming, "Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever!" just like Jehoshaphat's men did as they headed into battle.
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2 comments:
Thanks for a GREAT post!! It gives me a lot to think about too! :) What a MIGHTY God we serve!!!! Love you!
This was our topic in church just last week and it is so funny that I was reading over some scriptures about just this topic right before I read your entry. We were reading matthew 4 about how the devil tempted Christ to live this life on his own; to take take matters and His problems into His own hands. And we all have to remember that we have to do it His way. I think that we all struggle with thinking that we have the answer or we know best sometimes, when like you said, we just need to rely on Him. Trying to do life our way and having the perfect "prayer formula" of what we think needs to happen in our lives seldom works itself out. I know I struggle on a sometimes regular basis with giving 100% of my faith to Him and realizing I have to do it His way. Love to talk to you anytime both our lives aren't going crazy. I love you cousin!
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