Monday, April 1, 2013
By: Rachelle Hitt Bilbo
Negotiating with God
Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding"
Recently a friend of mine visited our church. It had been a while since I had seen her there. After church, she told me that I would be seeing a lot more of her. Of course I was delighted, but there was a reason for her new passion to attend church more consistently.
A couple of weeks before that particular Sunday, my friend lost her dog. She posted up "lost dog" signs all over her neighborhood! Days went by, and the hopes of finding her dog became bleak.
In her desperation, she began to pray, "God IF you bring my dog back, I PROMISE, I'll start going to church more." Thankfully, she found her dog.
Have you ever been in this place of desperation? You have totally exhausted all possible solutions to your problem, and you don't know where else to turn. So, you begin negotiating with God? "God if you __________, then I'll ____________." I'm sure we can all relate to my friend's strategy.
Too often, in our times of great distress, we immediately lean on our "own understanding" as warned against in today's scripture.
It's in most of our human nature to figure out a solution on our own when faced with a challenge. Moreover, we often feel a need to have an answer to everything in life. At some point, when we realize that we can't "fix" the problem, we finally turn to God.
However, in Matthew 6:33, the Bible teaches us to REORDER how we respond to life's situations. "But seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
If God merely responded to our "needs," no one would have problems in life. Instead, God responds to our FAITH in Him. Hebrews 11:6 lets us in on a huge truth, "And without faith it is impossible to please God..."
I challenge you today to trust God. Isaiah 58:11, reminds us that "The LORD will guide you always; he will SATISFY your needs..." Life will not always provide a satisfactory answer to our problems, but we can ALWAYS look to God for satisfaction. When we seek Him FIRST, that satisfaction found in Him will get us through anything--no negotiation necessary!
Dear Lord, forgive me for times that I leaned on my own understanding or came to you as a last resort. I commit to seek You first in all things. I know that my answer is always in YOU!
I thank You Jesus for dying for me. I believe that You are Lord and that God raised You from the grave so that I can have eternal life. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
