The second was a tap that ran only cold water, nothing on the hot side. The plumber wanted over $300 to fix it. The same worker who fixed the furnace fixed that problem too — without charge and in less than five minutes. I said, “You don’t have wings but you are an angel.”
The third issue was a crooked appliance we could not fix. My love of geometry felt annoyance every time I looked at it. A bathroom renovator came to make an estimate on another project and I asked him to add “straighten this fixture” to the list. He laughed, and immediately did it, no charge.
Since I believe God is involved in all things, I called him an angel too and thanked the Lord for being in the details and looking out for us — without a prayer for help or even thinking “I must turn to God with this issue.” So when someone tells me “we are very slow to learn this. When temptations come, instead of handing the battle over to the Lord we summon all our forces to fight them ourselves. We believe, perhaps, that the Lord is somewhere near, and if the worst comes to worst, He will step in to help us. But for the most part we feel that we ourselves and we only must do all the fighting” I feel a bit insulted, yet mostly that God is being insulted. He promises to take care of us, knows all things, knows our needs, and is not standing over me with baited breath waiting for my “Go for it” as if I am in charge of His life and He needs my permission for anything.
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (Exodus 14:14)I began life with Him by the power of His Spirit, yet like the church in Galatia, this is not to say that I’ve never tried to fight my own battles without thought that God would help me or that I must now rely on the flesh, as if I’m saved by grace but now must live by works. This is the posture of many Christians. We have a proud streak and like children we think, “I can do this myself.” Or we don’t know much about God and His care so assume we need to take care of all problems ourselves.
However, when someone else is trying to change that fleshy thinking, a finger-shaking accusation is seldom appropriate or helpful. Some need a gentle reminder of God’s love and trustworthiness. Most need encouragement rather than a strong rebuke. Not every Christian is so full of themselves and their own ability that they will turn down God’s help.
The other issue is being blamed that God is not helping because I won’t let Him. Really? How long does it take to learn that I don’t rule God? Not long. My will be done not Your will? Do any Christians pray that way? Maybe telling God what to do rather than accepting what He is doing borders on such thinking, yet only when He allows strong calamities to teach me that I cannot run my own life. I want to be comfortable, but He knows what I need.
Refusals to yield to His care suggest that such resistance is coming from someone who does not know Him at all. How can we think that the One who died for all our sin before we even knew He cared, is now unable to care about any other problem we have so we must take care of them ourselves?
PRAY: Jesus, human pride has to be at the root of such ideas, and thinking everyone struggles in resistance to Your help seems to be rooted in some idea that we control what You do for us, as if You have buttons we can push. This spells an ignorance of who we are, but even more, an oblivion to who You are. You are God and I am not. I don’t keep all my promises and I don’t control much of anything. I get involved in the world, sometimes find an appeal in Satan’s lies, and my old human nature is wrong all the time. None of that is true of You. You, like a parent, help me when I am dragging my childish heels in resistance. You died for me while I was still a sinner and You live for me every moment, every day doing things to help me know You and live for You. Whether I am being ornery or being obedient — You are God.
No comments:
Post a Comment