Got To Go Through the Door

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.  – 1 John 2:17

I woke early this morning, and I was praying.  That’s what I called it.  What I was really doing was worrying over balances in various monetary accounts while bringing to the Lord’s attention that I had been pretty faithful and generous lately in giving to His work.  It was as though my words were written on a screen in my head.  The word ‘I’ stood out and, though I didn’t see it, I knew there was a question mark by it. 

I’ve heard time and again that I am merely a steward.  Everything I have, the Lord has given me.  I am giving back only that which is His.  What do you give the God who has everything?  That was part of God’s response, but it went beyond that.  Who is this ‘I’?  Is it not written that ‘I’ have been crucified with Christ, that ‘I’ no longer live but it is Christ who lives in me? 

It’s not just, What have I got to give?  But WHO is doing the giving?  I’m not giving to God; God wants to give through me.  And money or whatever is the least of it.  It is being available and yielded to do His will. 

Mostly, in my case, I think it is getting my arguments, reasonings, rationalizations, and desires out of the way to clear the channel for God’s blessings to flow.  Why should I worry and stress about things when it is clear that God is the One moving and working and doing all this?  I know already from experience, some of which I know I have related, that the Lord has never put me in hole He didn’t already have a plan to get me out of.  He has put me in some tight spots.  They seemed that way to me going in.  In reality they were simply narrow doorways opening into new broader vistas. 

There is a narrow way we have to pass through.  The will of God can be an extremely strait, restrictive passage, but it is a passage to something.  It’s not a place where we will have to live.  We are going to live where this tight, constraining corridor takes us.  We’ll have plenty of room there -- until we come to the next doorway, and there will be another.  

What we learn in passing through the strait gates of God’s will is how worldly accretions have built up on us, like barnacles on a ship’s hull.  It all has to be scraped off now and then.  There are some things we have to leave behind when passing through the narrow way, and we are better for it. 

Whose Side Are You On?

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us, or for our adversaries? -- Joshua 5:13

Whose side are you on?  It’s a question we ask one another.  Whether we say it aloud or not, it may come to mind when we are dealing with a friend or even a spouse.  We trust and we expect someone to be on our side, but their words or behavior may cause us to question.  I have even felt betrayed by God.  I am trying to do right, and circumstances cut the ground out from under me.  Who can I blame but God?    

Joshua led the armies of Israel across the Jordan.  The waters of the river at flood stage parted even as the Red Sea had parted before Moses.  As the new leader of his people, Joshua had his faith reinforced.  The objective before him is the fortified city of Jericho.  As a military man, Joshua is naturally planning and considering the options for taking Jericho even as he prays for help from God.  Now he finds himself unexpectedly facing an armed adversary, a challenge there on the plain.  He wonders who this could be.  Perhaps God has sent an ally.  Or, perhaps, this is a new enemy.

The stranger’s response might be cause for concern:  And he said, No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come (v.14).   Sometimes we forget.  Sometimes in our human thinking and natural concern for ourselves, we lose perspective.  We want God to help us with our plans.  We want God to bless and prosper our endeavors.  We pray and look for Him to intervene on our behalf.  We may, on occasion, lose sight of the fact that we are the servants of the Lord.  We are His instruments, and it is His song that we are to play.  He is the composer and the conductor.   Joshua got it right immediately:  And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, What does my lord say to his servant? 

As hard as it can be to keep it mind, this is what Paul means when he says:  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).  It’s not my life anymore.  It’s not my mission.  It’s not my job, my kingdom, or my war.  I’m here on the Lord’s business. 

We intercede for others, and that’s good.  We petition God for our needs, and that’s good, too.  At some point in my praying, though, I really ought to imitate Joshua and ask, What does My Lord say to His servant?