Understanding what God is about to do where you are is more important than telling God what you want to do for Him
p.37
Share to the group a statement or scripture that resonates with you from today’s reading and a responding prayer…
Understanding what God is about to do where you are is more important than telling God what you want to do for Him
p.37
Share to the group a statement or scripture that resonates with you from today’s reading and a responding prayer…
One thing that stood out to me is on page 36 the author says: “planning what i wanted to do in the future would have been irrelevant if God intended to do something else”. Like that’s just so me. I get too excited about my future like okay im getting this car or im gonna go to this school or im gonna do this and that. But then all of that would be irrelevant if the day of His judgment comes. Like the introduction says, God doesn’t get glorified unless His will is done in His way. It won’t work unless I set my eyes to God and let God takes charge. And when He does want to work through me, like Tu said, I can hopefully join Him with an open mind that His will will be done for the good of His kingdom.
God I pray that you would help me to center my life around you more and to set my eyes to you. So that I can learn more about you everyday and your will for us on earth.
“Though God will probably not give you a detailed schedule, He will let you know one step at a time how you and your church need to respond to what He is doing.” This resonates well with me as a planner, but I’m reminded that way more often than not we won’t always know how things will go. We’re invited to trust, believe, and join in God’s schedule. As we shared in small groups earlier, I see that God is moving in Anthony’s life in a real and powerful way. I want to join God in what He’s doing as Anthony has been very open to talking with me and we seem to get along well, so I believe God can use me in Anthony’s faith journey. Whatever God is doing in Anthony’s life and whatever is drawing him and his family to RP, I want to take initiative to help support their faith and curiosity. I pray that God would use me, although I may not know how exactly, in helping Anthony’s faith grow and in turn grow me as well, to glorify Himself as His will is done
From Charlie:
In regarding to today lesson, it is emphasizing the idea that if we would just look for God’s work and work with Him, He would easily accomplish His plans in the most optimal way. The lesson provides an example of what happen when Moses attempted to free even one person from the clutches of Egypt by himself vs what happens when Moses follow God’s plan for Israel. The lesson also pointed to verses in the Bible showing how each time Israel people disobeyed, God would allow them “to follow their own devices”. Time and time again Israel would beg for forgiveness but once forgiven would turn from God again. The point made is that if we would just be open to be God’s instrument, He would accomplish greatness through us faster and easier than if we tried on our own.
It is a different way to see how to be God’s servant. Instead of trying to figure out how we can serve God through our own power, we would look to see how He’s already at work and just follow His lead and see how He uses us to accomplish His will.
This is a wonderful insight but somethings about it still bothers me. The idea that God’s plan would have been accomplished differently if the Israelis had been obedient instead of not trusting God and wandering the desert for 40 years; or that somehow because the we ignore God’s call it some how delay His plans; or that our plans whatever it may be can some how be contrary to God’s plan.
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of God that will stand” (Prov 19:21) and “I know that you can do all things and no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Jobs 42:2) seem to say that we can plan but our plans are nothing and it is God’s plan that will stand. I know free will throw a wrench in here but it still feel unsatisfying in the face of God’s will. It seems to me that even the things that we do that seems to make our paths more difficult which God could have done with a snap of His fingers are in fact exactly what He intended us to do. Perhaps they are lessons He is teaching us. As an earthly fathers (or mothers), perhaps we would device lessons for our children to allow them to make small mistakes that we can easily correct to allow them to learn? I feel the paths that God allow me to take made me a better person today then if He had just given me a privileged life with no worries and no pains.
Also, in Isaiah 46:10, “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose'” and “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph 1:11) would seem to say that God has planned all things to happen in His timeline according to His will way before we were even conceived. Everything is done in God’s time so maybe Moses years in exiles and the time that Israelis waited to be saved are according to His will in His time. “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Father, thank you for giving me these lessons and studies to allow me to get to know you better. Also thank you for giving me the fellowship of these brothers and sister who are providing me with different perspectives to pull out new insights from Your words and deepen my relationship with You. I pray that You will help me to always remember that all the glories are Yours so that I can be less prideful. I pray that You will always allow me feel Your presence so that no matter what life circumstances might bring I will always be grateful as all things happen by Your will.
I am a planner who constantly worries about the future, so today’s devotion was definitely a struggle for me to come to terms with especially knowing that my plans might be nothing (you see how I said “might”, that just shows I’m still struggling to fully accept). As someone who is constantly being bombarded with questions about my future and success, it’s difficult for me to surrender all of my worries and plans to God. The idea of success in the world’s eyes compared to God’s eyes are two totally different goals and I guess that is why it is difficult for me to let go. I’m definitely being tested in my faith and if I truly had faith in God I must fully surrender all my thoughts and worries to Him. I pray that I trust in God’s wisdom in all areas of my life and take that leap of faith to be like Francis of Assisi.
Reading how disobedience will cause God to “give us over to our stubborn hearts to follow our own devices” was such a “woah” moment for me because it shows just how diametrically opposed our plans initially are in relation to God’s. Like, we could be operating with the best of intentions but that all means nothing if our intentions don’t align with God’s in the first place. This is why it’s so important to understand what God is about to do where I am than it is to tell God what I want to do for Him because I can’t just be acting ahead of God. If I do then God will just let me continue my plans irrespective of Him and let me crash and burn of my own accord. It’s tough love but it’s a necessary lesson all the same in order to teach me that acting ahead of God is the same as not trusting that God’s plan will come to fruition regardless of my involvement. At the end of the day, instead of acting ahead of God, I need to wait and see how God’s plan plays out so that I can adjust accordingly to His plan rather than act out my own blind ambitions for God. Even when things may look bad and helpless, I just need to have faith like a 76ers and just “Trust the Process” that God has.
The Israelite wondered in the desert for 40 years before they enter into the promised land. They did not put their trust in God who will deliver them. They wonder in the wilderness because they trust in their own timing. This part of the reading stood out to me because grasping God’s timing and purpose is not easy. Sometimes, I lost patience and faith in the process and begin following what I believe I should do. I lost sight of God’s plan and created my own “more efficient” ones. In some circumstances, Gods seems to be slow and unresponsive, but in reality He has something far more greater. In times when things seems impossible to be done, God takes over and we just needed to learn to let go.