God wrote out the purpose and plan for us before we were even born, and everything he created serves his greater plan for the entire span of time. Your eternal word, O Lord, stands firm in heaven. Your faithfulness extends to every generation, as enduring as the earth you created. Your regulations remain true to this day, for everything serves your plans. Psalm 119:89-91 NLT
Since we know that God created everything and has ultimate authority, why is it that we strive to do more, thinking that somehow will help us to be “enough”? Why do we attempt to impress others with our accomplishments and even doing the “right thing” enough? Why do we do all we can in order to be heard and voice our opinions? Why do we spend time trying to change other people’s minds so they will see things from our perspective, and struggle to balance work and family demands with overloaded schedules? Why do we worry about things that are outside of our control? Many people, both in and out of church, do these things, and I unfortunately struggled with all of these twists in my thought process for the majority of my life, and I continually find myself falling back into these patterns.
I didn’t ask God what my calendar should look like, but instead was packing my calendar with activities and then asking him to bless it, if I was asking him anything at all. I wasn’t clothing myself in an anointed robe of righteousness and grace, I was clothing myself in contemporary Christian-acceptable trends in clothing and jewelry. I didn’t ask God the Father to bless me with rewards, I wanted to hear people around me applauding all that I had done for various groups, organizations and events. I wasn’t focused on reading the Bible, I was focused on finishing all my homework in the Bible Study book so that others would know that I was a good Christian. I haven’t trusted God with my adult children’s faith journey, but instead have spent time worrying about how I can impact it if I rarely see them.
You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe[e] for harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37 You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.” John 5:35-38 NLT
God doesn’t tell us who to marry, what job we are supposed to do, or where we are supposed to live… or does he? If he sends us to harvest where we didn’t plant, doesn’t that mean that he knows where he wants us to spend our time and energy? He definitely confirms when we are on the right path and guides us as we walk through our life. We are given boundaries on either side of our path and feel conviction from Holy Spirit, but he will never take away our free will to make decisions as we choose. We must bear our own consequences, though and keep our eyes on walking in oneness with Jesus.
My people have planted wheat but are harvesting thorns. They have worn themselves out, but it has done them no good. They will harvest a crop of shame because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
Jeremiah 12:13 NLT
If we think of the boundaries as easy to see low walls that we bounce off of but can easily be climbed over, then our perception of how wide or narrow our path is will depend on how bad of a driver (or runner) we are. Because we are all imperfect sinners by nature as humans, we don’t have a way to avoid hitting the walls on our own, so we bounce off the walls automatically when we commit a sin of any kind. If we intentionally make the choice to sin, we are essentially choosing to climb over the wall, which is called a transgression. If we’re smart, we will climb back over and get back on the path that God made for us as soon as we sense Holy Spirit convicting us of what we did wrong. If we rebel against Holy Spirit’s promptings to repent, then we get further away from the path, where things get very dark. The darkness that many get lost in is iniquity, which is unrepentant, willful sin with no fear of God.
In my childhood years, Christmas was celebrated with many gifts even though my parents had to skimp and save to bless us with gifts. In our tradition, Santa brought something big for my brother, my sister, and me every year, and it would show up overnight to be under the tree on Christmas Morning. One year in the 1980’s, my brother got an electric slot-car racing set, and he and I had SO much fun with it! There were two controllers connected to a powered box attached to the tracks and two cars with a metal bit between the two front wheels. We would set the cars in one of the two slots, squeeze the trigger on the controller, and they would zoom around the track. If we gave it too much power too quickly, the car would fly off the track. My brother and I could race each other, and through our skill to control the speed through the controller, we were able to maximize the speed of the car on the curves and the straight shots without flying off the track.
I loved racing my brother’s car around the track, and we would usually sit there happily until the heat from the friction created an odor of burning or our mom suggested that we give it a rest. As we had the toy for awhile, though, I remember my brother getting bored with the repetitive oval track that was set before us. He started taking enjoyment in squeezing the trigger full force, which would cause the car to shoot off the track onto the carpet. We couldn’t race our cars if my brother’s was stuck in the carpet, and as funny as he thought it was to do that, I would walk away after he did that a couple of times because I wanted us instead to enjoy a friendly race around the track.
Shifting mentally back to thinking about God’s path for our life with the short walls of sin to avoid on either side, flying over the walls as those race cars did would be like jumping the wall and careening into the darkness. Your friends and family may stick around awhile as long as you don’t keep repeating your wild behavior which sends you careening into the distance, but eventually, they are more likely to just walk on with their lives as you sit there stuck in the “carpet” in the darkness of your iniquity.
I have often thought that I was doing pretty well in the staying away from sin department. But the closer I get in my relationship with Christ, the more that I realize the extent of our sin nature and how much we need Jesus to wash away all of those sins for us. I was even convicted today of something that has been hindering God’s provisions and causing me anxiety and frustration. I have been worrying about the faith journey of my children after my recent divorce, and what I realized today with the help of a friend and Holy Spirit is that it is sinful to worry, and by worrying about them, I am hindering the provisions of my Heavenly Father. He loves me and always does what he says he will, so I have now prayed, laid my children down at the cross, and took authority to tell the spirits to leave in the name of Jesus. Instantly, I feel lighter and able to see the blessings in the little things that have happened recently with my children and trust that God will be working on each of their hearts.
We all have our own faith journey to walk, and it’s up to each one of us whether we choose to stay on the path, pull ourselves back when we make a mistake, walk on the wall and seek attention from others, fling ourselves over the wall and scream for attention, and on and on with endless scenarios. The fact is that God is good, his provisions for his children are endless, his love for us is merciful, and we get to choose who we will follow.
CHALLENGE QUESTIONS: What are you holding onto control of and hesitating to surrender to God? What false beliefs do you have about who God is that might be making it difficult for you to trust him? How has God shown you blessings in the areas that you are struggling with now?