Anyone know what I’m talking about?
Don’t we all have those moments where we’ve obediently surrendered something to the Lord, and He’s so proud of us, and we’re so proud of ourselves… and then we start to think about what we’ve done… aaaaaannnnnnddddddd BOOM! Our next instinct is to snatch whatever it is that we just gave to the Lord right back out of His trustworthy hands.
But… being the good boys and girls that we are, if we’ve learned anything about surrender, we know that we can’t do that. So we do the next best thing. We begin to “help the Lord along the way” by making suggestions, in the form of prayers, mind you. Detailed prayers. And this is where the fine line appears.
Now, I’m ALL ABOUT the detailed prayers. If you could only peek into my journal, you’d be shocked at the ridiculous amount of trivial detail in some of the requests. But hey – we’re talking to the Creator of the Universe… He can handle the pressure and the detail! Right?
So… on the flip side of that… We’re talking to the Creator of the Universe… He can especially handle the pressure and the detail of the non-trivial essentials of life. Right?
When we surrender something and entrust it to God, He wisely instructs us to come to Him with the details (Hebrews 4:16), with our tears (Psalm 18:6), with the requests (Phil. 4:6)… and then expects us to LEAVE IT IN HIS HANDS (Matt. 6:34).
But we are control freaks. A men?
And if we don’t see God moving fast enough, we think {operative words here: SEE and THINK} we need to step in and “help”… which leads to the sin of worrying our prayers, offering God multiple creative ideas of which we have stayed up all night designing, and almost demanding that He choose one to of our ways to implement if He isn’t going to work one of His own anytime soon… (sound familiar to anyone else but me???)
Oh my friends, this robs our peace and joy and totally changes our focuses off of our callings and centers them solely on ourselves… which will leave us weak, discouraged, and positioned right where the enemy wants us.
Yep. Not good.
Praise the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, God left for us a CURE for crossing that fine line between Surrender and Suggestion… and it’s found in Praising the Lord!
God’s Word is full of declarations of God’s BIGNESS, which helps to put us back into perspective and remind us that the God we surrendered (whatever it was) to is MORE than capable of doing above and beyond what we could ask, think, or imagine! (Eh. 3:20, Isa. 55:8-9). Our responsibility is to remain obedient, and connected to the vine. (John 15)
Early this morning I came across one of those passages. I was awake “in the night watches” praying about several different things that are weighing heavy on my heart – questions of “How is this going to work?” in situations for me personally, for various situations concerning family members, and for some huge needs to be filled in our church. I caught myself trying NOT to suggest to God how He could fix things. (I had some really great ideas, btw!) 😉
I picked up my one year chronological Bible, The Daily Bible, to catch up on some reading and came across this beautiful passage and the Lord put my heart and mind at rest. I wanted to pass it along to you. So if you need a cure for constant “suggesting” to the Lord, read below, keeping whatever YOUR situation is in mind, and as you read, imagine yourself trying to advise God on how to “fix” it.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
And marked off the heavens with a span [of the hand],
And calculated the dust of the earth with a measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales?
Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
Or has taught Him as His counselor?
With whom did He consult and who enlightened Him?
Who taught Him the path of justice and taught Him knowledge
And informed Him of the way of understanding?
Isaiah 40:12-14 (Amp)
Just WOW! So, ok… God does NOT need my (our) suggestions. I get it now. 😉 Do you?
The cure for crossing the line between surrender and suggestion? Pray Isaiah 40:12-14 back to God. It could be worded something like this:
Oh Lord, You have measured the waters in the hollow of Your hand,
And marked off the heavens with a span of Your hand,
And calculated the dust of the earth with a measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales.
No one directs the Spirit of the Lord, or is Your counselor. You consult with no one. No one teaches You the path of justice and knowledge. You know the way of understanding. You know all things…So with complete confidence in You, and without any suggestions of my own, I fully surrender ___________ and trust You with every detail. You are faithful and true, and I love You. Thank You for patiently loving me and __________ and for choosing to work Your plan through us.
My sweet friends, thanks for journeying with me through this life. 🙂 With love and prayers for each of you who read this~
“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.
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:6-8 (NLT)
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