How many of us may say a prayer such as 'if you do such and such I will do this." God is not a 'Deal or No Deal' God. And he has a big plan and you should not be working behind the scenes against that plan. Sometimes earthly situations do not seem to make sense and we may want to try to work behind the scenes to help move God along. Do not scheme as it will do no good. It will only cause you stress. Our good intentions oft times backfire.
Instead of orchestrating and trying to manipulate things or being 'holy spirit junior' as Bible teacher Joyce Meyer calls it ,try praying. Manipulating, prying and the like only bring pain but if you have issues and want to see changes sincerely cry out to God. James 5:16 has the formula to use and it says "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results."
In the book of Jonah we find Jonah running and hiding from God because he did not want to do what he said. We all know what happens there. Feel like being swallowed by a giant fish today?Sometimes we just do not want to listen to God. Psalm 81:11 says "But no, my people wouldn't listen. Israel did not want me around." In Psalm 106:25 it says "They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Lord." Humans sometimes think we know more than God. 1 Peter 2:25 says "Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls." The Shepherd will take care of you if only you trust him and follow him.
Patience is required. We humans do not like to wait. In the Bible a disastrous story of not waiting was Abraham his wife Sarah and their handmaid Hagar. God told them they would have a son and being past child bearing age Sarah did not trust God to fulfill this promise and took matters into her own hands. The ultimate soap opera unfolded right here in the Bible. Their impatience had disastrous results for mankind.The custom then was to use handmaids to speed things up. Sarah told Abraham to take her handmaid, Hagar and sire a son by her, since she could not wait on God to fulfill his promise, which Abraham did. The son born was named Ishmael but he was not the promised Son. Sarah eventually did conceive and have a son, Issac, which was the promised son. Sarah became jealous of Hagar. Issac went on to father Jacob and Jacob was to father twelve sons, some of these to were by handmaids. These twelve sons were the twelve patriarchs, siring the twelve tribes of Israel or the nation of Israel. Ishmael also sired twelve sons that became large tribes but these were always the enemy of Israel and gave Israel much trouble over time. We can see the trouble going on today in the Middle East as a direct result of this and not waiting on God for the promise he had in store.
We are here on this earth to serve God and to be molded in his image. Earthly situations sometimes frustrate us but we need to 'let go and let God' and not try to do things our own way. Pray and trust God for the outcome. Philippians 4:19 is one of my favorite verses and it says "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." Be patient and allow him to work things out in your life.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus help us to learn to wait on you and trust you have our best interests at heart. You alone are the almighty God and you know the 'big picture'. Help me not mess up your plan by trying to do my own thing. In Jesus Name, Amen!
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