What do you want me to do?

“Why are you looking for me? Is it because you saw miraculous signs? The truth is, you are looking for me because you ate the bread and were satisfied. But earthly food spoils and ruins. So don’t work to get that kind of food. But work to get the food that stays good and gives you eternal life. The Son of Man will give you that food. He is the only one qualified by God the Father to give it to you.” The people asked Jesus, “What does God want us to do?” Jesus answered, “The work God wants you to do is this: to believe in the one he sent.” (John 6:26-29)

Some might be impressed with the miracles of Jesus, but others are drawn because of a curiosity that might just stem a bit deeper within their spirit. The miracles are always great, but to expect miracles every single day is unrealistic. Jesus makes things quite practical for these followers - believe in the one who sent me. The concern over earthly things might consume their thoughts, but this is not God's plan for any of us.

The work God wants us to do - believe in him. The world tries to get us to believe in things - in what we can achieve or gain because of our hard work, schemes, or just plain good luck. Yes, we need food and clothing, but Jesus reminded his disciples if they trust in him above all else, all their needs would be met by his Father in heaven (Matthew 6:31-33). Philippians 4:19 reminds us, "My God will use his glorious riches to give you everything you need. He will do this through Christ Jesus." Life is more than us just 'doing stuff' to 'get stuff'. It is about trusting in the one who supplies all our needs.

Earthly things spoil and are ruined by time, normal wear and tear. We must guard our hearts against the pursuit of things above our pursuit of God's character being worked out in our lives. If we really want to 'put our hand to the plow', we should do it in our quiet time with Jesus. We can gain more in a few minutes with him, attention undivided and heart attuned to hear his voice, than we can in any amount of time we spend in our pursuit of worldly wealth or 'gains'. 

It is always a good thing to ask, "What does want me to do?" If we want to walk within his will and be in tune with his leadership in our lives, this is the place we begin. To be truthful here, asking this question each day would not be wrong. In fact, it might just set the tone for our days just a bit differently. We might just set aside some of our 'agenda' items and take on some new ones as he leads. Just sayin!

We want so much

Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best; God finds it hard to give, because He would give the best, and man will not take it. (George MacDonald)

Trust the Lord completely, and don’t depend on your own knowledge. With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help you go the right way. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Mankind wants so much and finds only part of what they seek when they seek to fulfill their wants and needs on their own. Mankind seldom wants the 'best', but God has prepared the 'best' for all who will seek his truth. His truth is resident in his Son - his 'best' is Jesus. Our 'best' falls somewhere below God's all of the time, so why do we seek it with all our effort when there is so much more awaiting us when we say 'yes' to Jesus? Perhaps it is because we find it hard to trust completely what God offers - we find it hard to believe God could give exactly what we need.

Our own knowledge will always get us less that what we truly want or need, but it will always seek to 'find a way' to achieve, accomplish, gain. Why? The 'hunt' for the 'best' is intense. It begins at birth and continue our lifetime, sometimes without us even being aware we are 'hunting'. The newborn 'ruts' its tiny head until it finds milk. The toddler pulls this out, pushes that away, getting into all manner of 'trouble' all because he wants to know what is not fully within his reach. The more we seek, the less satisfied we become in the 'solution' we find to our intense need. The need we feel driving us forward could be lust, pride, or even fear. Those 'drives' won't ever get us what we really need, though.

God's best is revealed to us in his Son, but in order to find what has been prepared for us in Jesus, we need to turn away from all those things we 'want', but don't really need in life. That might just be hardest thing for a self-directed individual. Their trust in self is hard to break, so God's best can seem a little elusive to those individuals. God gives his best, but the self-willed individual finds it hard to take what is offered. Somehow, God breaks down the walls the self-willed erects. In one simple act of setting aside one's own knowledge and choosing to trust God's plan for his 'best', even the self-willed find the greatest of all gifts! Just sayin!

Let God 'interfere' a bit

Yes, it is God who is working in you. He helps you want to do what pleases him, and he gives you the power to do it. (Philippians 2:14)

Like it or not, God is at work. Where? In you and in me. We aren't ever going to escape his work - he began his work in us when we said yes to him, and he will surely continue that work as long as we draw breath. Do we always appreciate or welcome his work within our lives? Not hardly! There are times we are just plain stubborn and don't want to have his 'interference'. We see what he is doing as 'bothersome' - mostly because his work is bringing conviction, and we don't like having our 'wrong choices' pointed out because we are prideful people. The more we resist his 'interference' in our lives, the longer we will deal with issues that only get us into other issues! It is God who actually helps us do what we don't want to do!

Have you ever been in a place where you know the very thing you are about to do isn't going to end well? If you haven't, learn from my mistakes, okay? If you think you can 'will' your way to obedience, you are mistaken. Obedience is tougher than it sounds - all because we have this thing called pride. Pride has this way of overruling what we know to be right in favor of what we know to be wrong. That is when we find ourselves getting way too close to compromise, or worse yet, crossing the line into full-blown sin. Indulge your prideful 'self' long enough and the hold sin has on you will get stronger and stronger. Before long, you will not even consider the choices you are making as 'wrong' - the thing that scripture says actually leads a man or woman to the place of a 'seared conscience'. None of us want to find ourselves there!

Let God help you do what you don't 'want' to do. It might surprise you how much less your 'resistance' to his required actions actually exists when you submit to his movement in your life. God wants to help us live righteous lives. We cannot do it on our own. We'd muddle it up pretty badly. The 'power' we need isn't 'willpower'. The power we need is God's divine intervention. We might not realize just how much God is at work within us until we 'look back' a bit and see the changes he has worked. We know he is always with us, but do we always acknowledge his presence and invite him in to do his work within our mind, will and emotions? If not, it could be time to change that. Just sayin!

Are we there yet?

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. (James 1:5-8)

We are reminded in Proverbs 3:5-7 to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take." As we all have varying backgrounds, we likely approach life's challenges in various ways. We might just find ourselves turning to this world's wisdom first, then when it doesn't do what we hoped it would do, we turn to God. As long as we rely upon the wisdom the world offers, we will be limited in our perception of the issue. The limitation? We see things through our natural eyes - emotions being played upon, we respond based upon emotion, not godly wisdom. Godly wisdom is always available to us, but we might just have to stop long enough to ask for it, ruminate on it a bit, and then allow its application in our lives.

There are probably more times we lack wisdom than we might first admit. We come headlong into a situation and then we stumble around a bit until we realize what we possess in the way of earthly knowledge isn't cutting it. Pride sometimes gets in the way of us asking for God's help - making it almost impossible to avoid the hiccups that come from facing things we cannot control, much less fully understand all in our own wisdom. Once we put aside our pride and turn to God for his help, we find new wisdom for the circumstances at hand. Although we delayed in seeking his wisdom, he never criticizes us or judges us when we take so long to ask! It is far better to ask sooner than later, but some of us just take a bit of time to put our pride in the backseat and allow God to take over. Remember, God always welcomes our requests for help - we might not think so, but we find repeated examples of his intervening grace recorded for us in scripture whenever someone humbles themselves before him.

Sometimes we don't ask for God's help because we think the answer we receive will be a little different or 'worse' than what we imagined the answer to be. It may not be the answer we anticipated, but God's answers are always the best ones - we must rely upon his wisdom to keep us protected, and within the safety of his caring arms. God hears the first word we utter and he isn't afraid to answer, but sometimes he allows us to get things out of our system in prayer before he begins the work of answering. He isn't afraid to show us his will, but sometimes we need to get to the place we will accept it and walk in it! Just sayin!

Recommendation vs. Communication

Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life. You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail. (Proverbs 19:20-21)

If you are a 'planner' like I am, you probably use a variety of electronic applications and even paper lists to keep track of the 'stuff' you need to get done in order to accomplish those plans. One thing I might not have learned early in my life was the need to ask God for his 'list'. I made all the lists, exclusive of seeking his perspective on the list. If you have ever made a few of those lists only to see that they didn't really pan out all that well, you know how frustrating that can be - so, is it any wonder that I ask God to show me his perspective on my list now?

God's purpose will prevail - that is a pretty 'set in stone' kind of statement, isn't it? We go about getting all the 'advice' and 'instruction' we can find, but are we really getting ALL of it if we aren't seeking his perspective? I daresay we are missing the main element in all our planning if we don't! That statement indicates there will be but ONE winner in the end and it will be him! Leave him out of your planning and you might just find the 'advice' and 'instruction' you held onto doesn't hold up in the end.

God's 'advice' and 'instruction' comes as we take time to read the Word, listening intently to what he reveals to us. Human advice is a 'best guess' opinion or recommendation offered in order to guide some action on our part. We take it or leave it - embracing all or parts of it as we see it applying to our lives. Godly advice is a direct communication from God that gives us information on how to proceed. It differs from human advice in that is not an opinion or recommendation - it is clear cut, remains consistent, and always holds true to the principles outlined in scripture.

Too many times we treat God's Word as though it were a 'recommendation' for how we are to live, but we do ourselves a disservice whenever we think we can 'pick and choose' the parts of his instructions we will abide by and those we will reject. God's Word provides a wealth of knowledge and wisdom, but we must explore it, embrace it, and then allow it to eliminate the 'earthly advice' that only serves to cloud our choices. Only then will we really be able to make wise choices and see the Lord's purpose prevail in our lives. Just sayin!