I just witnessed a little girl throw a very gentle fit because her mom refused to buy her sweets. She didn’t shout or collapse on the floor but rather turned on the taps and sobbed bitterly. I’m very proud of the mother who didn’t give in and guided her out of the shop without too much of a disturbance. I would think that this tactic has probably given her her will before, and she’s counting on it working again. We do that with God sometimes too, don’t we? We whine and beg and promise all kinds of impossible promises if He would just please give us what we think we so dearly need. If He will sort out the mess in our lives we promise to go to church every Sunday. We will read our Bibles faithfully every day if He will just provide the money we need. And so we go on.
I applaud you if you’ve never reverted to those tricks. The sad thing is the things we promise to do, and then probably don’t end up doing, even if we get what we wanted, are things that are good for us. Like promising to go to church. That’s not in God’s best interest, it’s in ours. Reading our bibles? Same thing. Being righteous or holy or whatever. We can’t turn God’s arm by trying to bribe Hm. For goodness sake, He created everything there is. Why would He suddenly say, “Okay here’s a brand new sports car for you, please go to church.” When I say it like that it even sounds totally ridiculous to me. God has no illusions about who we are and what we are and are not going to do in the future. Isaiah 46:10, “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure.” God knows what we did yesterday and He knows what we are going to to next month and next year. No, we aren’t puppets who are being controlled, but it’s just that with God, time does not exist, and He can see the end of time from the beginning of time and the other way around. It’s a very hard concept to get your head around, but that’s how it is. And He doesn’t control because He gives us free choice. Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;” Isaiah 48:18, “Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” I think those verses show us quite clearly that God doesn’t control or manipulate us. So why do we try to control and manipulate Him?
I read something (and I really can’t remember who wrote it, or I would credit him) where the father said he had bought a new blue Schwinn bicycle for his son whose birthday was still a few weeks away. He thought that his son would love the bicycle but the boy hadn’t even mentioned wanting a bike. So the father proceeded to make the son believe that a blue Schwinn bicycle was what he really wanted. He did it so well that on the morning of the boy’s birthday the father asked him what gift he wanted and he said, ‘A blue Schwinn bicycle.” The story went on to say that that’s how we should be asking God for things. We should be communicating with Him in a way that He will tell us what He has for us, instead of us asking for what we think we need. 1 Corinthians 2:9, “But as it is written, ‘Eye has not seen, not ear heard, not have entered into the heart of man, The things which god has prepared for those who love Him.’” Ephesians 3:20, “now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think…” Proverbs 4:18, “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.”
Maybe we should start trusting God’s plan. That plan that He perfected before we were even formed. The plan he made before the beginning of time. In John 17:5, Jesus prays, “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
Let us let go of all our agendas and let God do what He does best.
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