Tuesday, March 12, 2013 -- The Road To Real Satisfaction -- (1)
Tuesday March 12, 2013
Is this really the correct order? "Trust God – Obey God – Know God"
When we face circumstances that are out of our control, the "figuring out" game begins, and we treat our lives as if God does not exist or at least doesn’t have a plan for us in the middle of what we are experiencing. We get busy trying to sort things out ourselves but we soon discover that we are blindly hunting in the dark and not discovering what we really need. That leads us to anxiety, worry, self-pity, panic, and fear. But these are not what the Lord desires for us.
James Dobson writes, "Our task is not to decipher exactly how all of life's pieces fit together and what it all means, but to remain faithful and obedient to Him who knows all mysteries".
In the Bible we read the story of Hannah. When she had trouble conceiving a child, (a great disgrace in her culture), her despair was obvious. Her disappointment, sorrow, and frustration were real. While Hannah may have initially wondered why she could not conceive, she did not dwell upon it or blame God. Instead, she took all her emotions and desires to the Lord. God spoke to her and she obeyed God’s instructions on how to deal with problems: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT) When obeying God becomes a higher priority to us than unraveling His plans, we will find the peace and fulfillment we've longed for in life. By bringing our concerns to the Lord with a thankful heart, we will know the promised peace of God, guarding our hearts and our minds.
In order to know God, we also must understand our complete reliance upon Him. The motivation for Hannah to bring her anguish to the Lord was her desperation for His intervention. She knew that God was her only source of comfort and power. As long as we try to sort things out and arrange them on our own, we’ll not have much space for God’s ways. God has a proven plan for abundant living. His ways are healing and life-giving. Trusting and obeying God helps us get to know Him more intimately quicker than anything else in life.
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