Who is in Charge?
Many times evangelicals will tell unbelievers things like “You need to make Jesus Lord of your life” What does this mean? It may seem confusing.
Sometimes, as believers, we also forget about our call to make Jesus Lord. We’ve been saved. We’re going to heaven. We think that is enough, but is it?
Therefore the LORD God of Israel declares, ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever’; but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed. (1 Samuel 2:30)
When We Think We Know Better Than Jesus
Truly, we are called to follow Jesus and do as he commands. He knows best. He knows what to do.
When He [Jesus] had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” (Luke 5:4-5) {emphasis mine}
This passage occurs shortly before the Apostles Simon (Peter), Andrew, James, and John began following Jesus. These four professional fishermen had fished all night without catching anything. Then Jesus borrowed their boat so He could preach to a crowd from the safety of their boat. Jesus then tells them to put out to the deep water and drop their nets. Peter thought he knew better than the creator of the universe because he did not yet realize who Jesus was. To Peter, He was just a great teacher. He didn’t truly understand that Jesus was the creator God who spoke the universe into existence, so he spoke down to Jesus, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing.” Peter thought he knew better than God. He was tired and thought more fishing was a waste of time. The good news is he was not completely disrespectful, and finished with “but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”
Simon Peter didn’t believe God had the best plan, but at least he submitted, even if reluctantly. You can almost hear an implied, “but you’ll see. We won’t catch anything.” Little did he know.
When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; (Luke 5:4-11) {emphasis mine}
When Simon Peter saw the power of God, He fell at Jesus’s feet in awe and fear. He went from thinking he knew better to knowing that he knew nothing compared to Jesus. He went from thinking he should be in charge, to bowing in awe and submission to his creator.
As in Jesus’s parable:
“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I will not;’ but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.” (Matthew 21:28-31)
Although God calls us to obey immediately and with a right attitude, the most important thing is that we obey. As our knowledge of Him becomes more complete it usually becomes easier to obey because we see how obedience leads to good things (not necessarily easy things) and disobedience leads to bad things (even if they are easier in the beginning).
The first son was like Simon Peter, he didn’t want to obey, but he did chose the right path, if only reluctantly. When we obey God and look for the good that comes from obedience, we will see wonderful things.
Now we see the result of Simon Peter’s obedience:
And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him. (Luke 5:10-11)
They saw the awesomeness of God through Jesus and it made such a big impression that they left their career to follow Him. They had the most successful catch of their lives and abandoned their fishing careers because they saw the blessing that comes from God’s way rather than their own or the world’s way.
When We Think We Are Incapable of Obeying God
In the story of Moses and the burning bush, when God sent him to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, Moses had the opposite issue. He didn’t believe He had the ability, skill, or knowledge to obey God. Right after seeing the burning bush and being told to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground, God commanded:
Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” (Exodus 3:10-12) {emphasis mine}
Moses’s first response was “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?” He thought he wasn’t important enough to fulfill God’s will. He didn’t understand that God can use anyone because He empowers us to do what He has called us to do.
After God explains what He wanted Moses to do:
Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ” The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.” Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. But the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” (Exodus 4:1-5) {emphasis mine}
Moses responds, “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say?” This time Moses questioned whether he could be used to fulfill God’s will, but God always enables us to to fulfill His will if we will just obey. We are called to obey Him, but He is responsible for the outcome. He doesn’t judge us on the outcome, just obedience. The amazing thing is that God gave Moses the ability to do miraculous signs to prove that he had been sent by God.
Even with the ability to do miraculous signs, Moses questions how he can be used because he doesn’t consider himself a good public speaker. Although God had just given him the ability to do miraculous signs that he could never do before, he didn’t trust that God could help him speak well.
Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.” But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will.” (Exodus 4:10-13) {emphasis mine}
Moses tries to excuse himself from obeying God by saying “I have never been eloquent.” A God who can speak the Universe into existence and give the power to change a staff to a snake and back is easily able to make a man into an eloquent speaker. God responds, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.”
God reminds Moses who created him and his mouth and then gently tells him “I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.” God always enables us to do what He has commanded us to do.
Finally, after being rebuked three times for his lack of faith and obedience, Moses reluctantly acquiesces and replies “now send the message by whomever You will.” Moses knows God is sending him, but leaves God “an out” just in case he was able to convince God to change His mind.
From this day on, Moses chooses to obey and follow God no matter where it leads him and he becomes one of the most revered men of the Bible.
God rarely picks the person you or I would pick to do a task. He picked a man who couldn’t speak well to lead the Israelites out of captivity. He picked a bunch of fishermen and other misfits to build the body of Christ. He has a plan for you that you would almost certainly never pick for yourself, but will become a blessing to you if you only listen to His command.
He commanded me, a person who was interested in almost every career except writing, to write a blog and a book and probably more. I always hated writing and now, after obeying Him, I can’t seem to write enough. There is a reason it is said, “God works in mysterious ways.”
When We Think God’s Way is Unfair
We often don’t like God’s plan for our lives, especially if that plan includes hardship. When we think of hardship or “bad things happening to good people,” we usually think of Job.
Job was a man who served God more faithfully than any other at his time, but lost everything (except a nagging wife) including his children, his animals (career), his respect in his community, and his health.
After a period of being blamed by his friends for everything bad that had happened to him and Job questioning God’s goodness, God replied:
“Who is this that darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,” (Job 38:2-4)
In the book of Job, we are given insight into actions that are happening in heaven that will be a blessing to the world, but Job doesn’t get to see the battle for his life during his life, so he questions what God is doing. Instead of faithfully trusting God, he questions God’s goodness. God rightly puts Job in his place.
“Have you entered into the springs of the sea
Or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have you understood the expanse of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.” (Job 38:16-18)
Job is reminded of his lack of knowledge about many things that God knows and controls.
“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
Or loose the cords of Orion?
Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
And guide the Bear with her satellites?
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
Or fix their rule over the earth?
“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
So that an abundance of water will cover you?
Can you send forth lightnings that they may go
And say to you, ‘Here we are’”? (Job 38:31-35)
God reminds Job of His power compared to Job’s lack of power. God reminds Job of all that God has created.
Then the Lord said to Job,
“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
Let him who reproves God answer it.” (Job 40:1-2)
Then God asks Job if he wants to continue questioning God’s will and righteousness.
Then Job answered the Lord and said,
“Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
Once I have spoken, and I will not answer;
Even twice, and I will add nothing more.” (Job 40:3-5)
Job then fully submits to God’s will no matter how hard it may seem. Although we don’t always get full blessings on Earth like Job does (He received more kids, more wealth, more fame, and more respect than he had before his testing), we will be blessed in eternity for submitting to the will of God no matter what that will is and no matter what it costs us here on Earth. We just have to remember that:
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 29:19)
Who Is God in My Life?
One problem we have is deciding who will be God of our life. Will we submit to Jesus as God of our life and obey Him or will we act as if we are our own God?
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:1-6) {emphasis mine}
This whole error started with a temptation and with Eve not fully knowing God’s command. The Serpent (Satan) tempted Even. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He was always ready to answer any temptation with the Word of God. Eve on the other hand only seemed to partially know God’s command. God had commanded Adam and Eve to not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve, probably resenting this one and only negative command, added “or touch it.” She changed God’s command. She added to it. She resented this limitation on her freedom and then she heard the most enticing temptation of them all, “you will be like God.”
In reality all temptation to sin relates to this first temptation. We all want to be the god of our lives. We want to define right and wrong the way we want it. We want to define relationships the way we want them. We want to define what God is like and how we relate to Him. We want to be like Frank Sinatra and “do it my way.”
We’ve all heard the Disney mantra “follow your heart.” The problem with this nice sounding suggestion is the Bible says the opposite. It says that our hearts frequently lead us astray.
But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; (2 Peter 2:12-15) {emphasis mine}
When we try to decide for ourselves what is right, we always fail to follow true righteousness. When we try to decide on our own what is best, we always decide wrongly. Only God defines righteousness and only God knows what is best. Jesus is our God and needs to be put on the throne. We need to submit fully.
Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:1-4)
Although there will be rare moments in life where we hear the call of God to make a particular choice in life or a particular action to do, the way we truly know God’s will (and are able to properly know those few personal calls are actually from God) is to study and know the Bible. Anything contrary to God’s word is not His will. We need to study the Bible so we know exactly what God says and what He doesn’t say.
Right in His Own Eyes
Too often people do what is right in their own eyes like it says in Judges many times:
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25)
Any time we choose to do what is right in our own eyes, we will choose poorly. King David, whom the Bible calls “a man after God’s own heart” had one case when he did what was right in his own eyes. One bad decision led to another and another leading him badly astray. The good news is that when he repented of his sin, he turned back to God and honored God the rest of his life.
But for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem; because David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. (1 Kings 15:4-5)
David decided to stay home from leading troops and take it easy. This led to him seeing beautiful Bathsheba. That could’ve been the end, but instead he had her brought to him and used his power to force a relationship with her. He got her pregnant. He didn’t want his sin exposed, so he tried to hide it by bringing her husband back from the front lines, hoping he would have relations with his wife covering David’s sin, but Uriah was too honorable and felt guilty enjoying his wife while others were dying on the front lines. When Uriah refused to go in to his wife, David, in desperation to cover his sin, sent a command to Joab, the commander of his force, to put Uriah at the front and have him killed in battle.
Do you see how one sin led to another and to another? If David had followed God’s commands, he wouldn’t have committed the first sin which led to many more. It started with just taking a break from leading his army and ended up with adultery and murder. It is scary how one bad choice can lead us so badly astray. The good news is that David was willing to acknowledge his sin and repent and turn back to God. He learned from his giant mistake and never went that way again. We also can be forgiven and can turn back to God and put Him in charge of our lives.
David’s descendants and we are commanded to “do what is right in My sight by observing My statutes and My commandments.” We can learn from David’s mistakes and choose the right path.
Then it will be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by observing My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. (1 Kings 11:38) {emphasis mine}
If we “do what is right in My sight by observing My statutes and My commandments.” He promises to “build you an enduring house.”
Anytime we put something as more valuable than God or having more authority than God, we are making that thing or that person or that group into a god in our lives, which breaks one of the Ten Commandments.
“You shall have no other gods before Me. (Exodus 20:3)
Whenever you put man’s tradition or culture’s example above God’s command, you are making them into a god and putting them over God.
Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? (Matthew 15:1-3)
Too often people put tradition or culture before God’s clear commandments. Even if something isn’t bad in itself, putting anything before God and His will is sin. Repeatedly defying God’s commandments and repeatedly denying His Godhead can lead to God removing His protecting hand from our lives.
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32)
There is only one true God — God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. One of our primary goals as we grow in our faith is to remove all of the gods in our life and to let go and no longer act as if we are our own god.
Step down and put God on the throne of your life.
Trust Jesus.
your sister in Christ,
Christy
FYI, This article was getting long, so I moved several verses that I was intending to use to the end. If you want some more information on the subject, read on, if not, you’ve gotten the important information. These verses are in no particular order. I’ve included a short comment with most of them.
If you are doubting God’s authority to command or do things in your life, this verse helps your perspective:
On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. (Romans 9:20-24)
Many people want religion to be what they want it to be instead of what God says it should be. They define what they want God to be and what they think is right and good. They define how they want to worship God instead of how He commands them to worship.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
God condemns those who choose their own path:
But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. (Jeremiah 18:12)
When we refuse God’s way and choose our own, God takes His protection from us and allows us the consequences of our bad choices:
“But My people did not listen to My voice,
And Israel did not obey Me.
So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart,
To walk in their own devices.
Oh that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways! (Psalm 81:11-13)
“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known. (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)
But Moses said, “Why then are you transgressing the commandment of the Lord, when it will not succeed? Do not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies, for the Lord is not among you. (Numbers 14:41-42)
You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept correction; truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. (Jeremiah 7:28)
Even worse than just choosing to do your own will is teaching others to do likewise. The harshest punishments are for those who lead others astray.
“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own inspiration, ‘Listen to the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God, “Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins. You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the Lord. They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, ‘The Lord declares,’ when the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘The Lord declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken?” ’ ”
Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord God. (Ezekiel 13:2-8)
Bible verses are NASB (New American Standard Bible) 1995 edition unless otherwise stated
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