Bullying God

“…Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you…”  Nehemiah 1:11

“Daddy, I need new shoes. Look at these.” Five-year-old Macy held out one foot where a ragged tennis shoe dangled by one lace. Her father, Dan, smiled at her. “You’re right. We’ll go tomorrow, soon as I get my paycheck.” Someone banged on the front door, and when Dan opened it, twelve neighborhood kids glared at him from the porch. He recognized a couple of bullies who had terrorized his daughter and others who painted graffiti on his garage. “Hey, dude,” one bully shouted. “We heard you give out shoes. We’re here for ours, so hand ‘em over!” Dan shook his head. “I’d like to, but I can’t. You’re not my children.”

Some people treat God the way those neighbor kids treated Dan. They have no interest in loving and obeying the Lord, they merely want His blessings. They ignore His commands, but “claim” His promises. When they find themselves in a tough place, they demand that God rescue them. And sometimes He does, because He’s good. But He is not obligated to, because they are not His. Nehemiah could come with confidence before the Lord because He understood that God listens to His own children who delight in honoring Him. When we seek the Lord, we must do it His way. He knows His own children and is not fooled by those who pretend spirituality only when they need something. He delights in those who delight in Him.

Are you seeking God as a neighborhood kid, or do you delight in honoring Him?

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Yes or No

…And the LORD told him, "Yes, go after them. You will recover everything…" 1 Samuel 30:8

We LOVE those kinds of answers! “Lord, should we buy that house we want?” YES! “Lord, will I get a promotion at work?” YES! “Lord, will I be cured of cancer?” YES!  God is a Father, and He loves to say “YES!” when our requests are within His plan. But   when we assume that “YES! is His only answer, we ignore the “No’s.” We don’t like “No’s,” so we decide they cannot be from God and we plunge ahead with our plans anyway. That view of God is flawed, because we are treating Him as a divine slot machine—plug in a couple of prayers and get ready for the jackpot of our choosing.

 God is not a genie or a slot machine. He is Almighty God. He can do anything He wants, and He wants us to seek Him for Himself. He loves to say “YES,” but sometimes His plan requires the word “No.” “Lord, should we buy that house we want?” “No, I have a better one for you.” “Lord, will I get a promotion at work?” “No, the company will lay off everyone in that department in six months.” “Lord, will I be cured of cancer?” “No, I’m ready for you to come home, and four people will be saved because of it.” Seeking God’s answers means we are open to either a Yes or a No from Him. Seeking God means we want to know His heart, not use Him as a rubber stamp for our ideas. David and his men were victorious when they chased after the raiders because God had said “Yes.” But if God had said, “No,” it would have meant that He had a better plan.

When you seek the Lord, are you prepared to work in harmony with His answer?

Should I?

Then David asked the LORD, "Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?..." 1 Samuel 30:8

A new job. A new house. A new spouse. Should I? Should we? How can I? Questions pelt our minds 24/7 like shot from a pepper gun. We poll the audience, phone a friend, and often charge recklessly into a decision because it looks good on the surface. Or, we freeze in place and never progress an inch from where we started. Neither is how God designed us to live. He offers a better way. He instructs us throughout His word to call upon Him about everything (Ps. 50:15). Everything? Even family problems? Job frustrations? Loneliness? Depression? Yes, every-thing because He is that involved with our lives (Psalm 139).

When David had a big decision to make, He first asked the Lord about it. The wives and children of his soldiers had been kidnapped, and the grieving men blamed him for it. Instead of retaliating in rage, or taking off on his own, David first sought the Lord. The solution to their dilemma seemed obvious, but even then, David’s habit was to ask the Lord. Because he had made it his custom to seek God and wait for His answer, it was natural for him to go there first. When our passions run high, anger burns fierce, and revenge boils in our veins, we want to take matters into our own hands. We think the solution is obvious, while forgetting that we cannot see around corners or over mountains like God can. When we seek the Lord’s counsel on every decision, we can live in confidence that we are on His side.

Final Thought:  Have you developed David’s habit of seeking the Lord in every decision?

Running Out of Time

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6

“I’ll get my life straight when I’m old,” Juan boasted. “I’ve got plenty of livin’ to do before then!”

“I know I should get right with God,” Emilie confessed. “But that means I’d have to change some things, and I’m not ready.”

“Yeah, I’ll get serious about spiritual things one day,” said Pat. “But I’m so busy right now at work, I just don’t have time.”

These people are all making a huge and costly assumption. They are assuming that God will work within their timetables and that when they have decided they are ready for Him, He will come running. But the Bible tells us that the opposite happens. Jesus said that no one can come to Him unless the Father first draws him (John 6:44). He means that our hearts have no desire to repent, to change, or to know God unless the Holy Spirit has first prepared us. So God commands us to seek Him while we can, because that option may not always be available. To seek Him means we first acknowledge that He exists. Second, we agree that He is who His word says He is and that we need Him. Then we ask Him to reveal truth to our hearts and we act upon whatever truth we have been given. We seek God when a hunger has begun gnawing within our souls for something that this world cannot offer. That hunger was placed there by God Himself to cause us to seek Him. And because His character is so vast, we can seek Him all our lives and never come to the end of all He is and all He wants to reveal to us.

Are you seeking the Lord while He may be found?

Life's True Purpose

 

For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. Romans 11:36

James held the nail steady and picked up a screwdriver. With the handle, he began to pound. Harder and harder he pounded on the stubborn nail head, but it barely moved. Sweat broke out on his forehead and a blister on his hand before he finally sat back on his heels and hurled the screwdriver into the trashcan. “Stupid tool! What’s the matter with it? I give up.”

There was nothing wrong with the screwdriver. James was trying to use it in a way it was not designed to be used. We often do that with our lives. When we insist upon a path for which we were not designed, we make the same mistake that James made. We compare ourselves to the ungodly and decide that’s the life we want. We compromise God’s standards and assume that He doesn’t mind. When we do that, we are chasing Satan’s suggestions like a child chases soap bubbles. Even when we catch them, they never quite satisfy. After years of this, some hurl their lives into the trashcan and give up. OR, we meet Jesus. In His Instruction Manual, we discover that we were trying to be something we were never designed to be. We understand that we were designed to love and serve God. 

True service is not a list of do’s and don’ts tacked to a chart of endless expectations. The kind of service God desires is that which flows naturally from a grateful heart that has been shown its true purpose. 

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Whose Shield Are You Holding?

 

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

“I always wanted to teach a girls’ class, but I’m too shy. What if they don’t like me?”

“I was asked to lead the greeters, but I’m afraid of failing. What if I don’t do a good job?”

“I felt God wanted me to go on a summer mission trip to Haiti, but I’m scared to fly and there is disease over there.”

How many opportunities have you said “no” to because of fear? “I wanted to do this, but…” This verse might be paraphrased to say, “God wants to kick you in the But!” We convince ourselves that BUT is a free pass for our disobedience. “I would obey you, God, but…” He tells us plainly that our spirit of fear is not from Him. So if fear is not from Him, who is behind it? Who would be most threatened by your wholehearted service to the Lord? Whose kingdom might be shaken by your befriending that Muslim classmate, by your offering to mentor children, or by your sacrificial giving to missions? Satan defeats many of God’s plans for us by suggesting that the obstacles are too great. But when we listen to FEAR instead of obeying God, we have enshrined it as our new god. We use it as a shield between us and obedience; God is warning us that this shield is not our friend. Instead, He offers His shield of Faith (Eph. 6:16). With it in place, we can then serve wherever God calls us to serve—without fear.

Whose shield are you holding? Satan’s shield of Fear, or God’s shield of Faith?
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God: Idea or Person?

 

 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them… Mark 16:20

Julie nudged her friend Rob as a distinguished-looking man walked into the restaurant. “I’ve heard he’s a billionaire,” she whispered, “and the nicest guy ever.” Rob nodded. “Yeah, he is. He takes great care of his employees. His companies offer the best benefit packages in the nation and he personally gets involved with His workers. He even mowed his secretary’s grass last summer when her husband died. Nobody could believe it. Aa-nd—” Rob paused for effect. “He loves strawberry shortcake and hates turnips.” Julie’s jaw dropped. “How do you know all that?” she asked. Rob smiled and shrugged. “I work for him.”

Millions of people are like Julie when they think of God. They have heard of Him, but don’t really know Him. Of those who do know Him as Lord and Savior, many think: “I don’t feel close to God. I read my Bible and pray. I go to church, but He’s not real to me.” Because God is not visible, we can begin to think of Him as an idea, rather than Person with whom we have a relationship. This verse tells us one way we can experience Him personally: We work for Him. God invites us to join with Him in accomplishing His goals for this world. When we obey, we get to see people the way He does. We start to see sin the way He does. We like what He likes and hate what He hates. When our goals, values, and desires match His, we have the joy of truly knowing Him. So when others ask, “How do you know all that?” we can smile and say, “I work for Him.”

When we set our hearts to obey and serve the Lord, He works with us. 

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