Let God do God Things
For some reason my kids have lost all trust in my ability to keep them alive and their little worlds turning. My oldest is 13, so I have been doing this ONE JOB for 13 years! Recently they will remind me that they need to eat, they need socks, they need to be at school at a certain time as if these are new things are brand new, hot of the press tasks. “OH! You need to EAT?? When did that start?? How are you 9 and you have never been fed a meal in your lifetime?” And they have started to notify me that we need to leave because they will be late for school…”you can’t even tell time! I know when we need to LEAVE!” I am not sure where this phrase came from but when they make me aware of something that I need to do, but I have been doing before they were even born I now say, “Let mom do mom things!”
I have been so guilty of doing this with God DAILY!! Sometimes I lose my trust in His ability to do “God things.” I forget He is the one who spoke EVERYTHING into existence, He is the one who knew me before the very foundations of the earth, He is the author of every detail of my life, He is the keeper of every dream, He is the reason I live and breath and have my being. When things don’t go the way I think they should, I will question and doubt. When I don’t understand I try to step in and do it my way, because after all my way is clearly the best way. When I get tired of waiting for Him to move I’ll try to move it on my own.
God has been in the business of doing God things since….well, all of eternity. It’s fascinating if you read through the Old Testament, story after story paints this picture of God’s people forgetting what God had done for them and they stopped calling on Him to do what only He could do and some generations forgot about Him all together.
Noah was the only guy left on all of the earth who was “a righteous man” no one repented, God flooded the earth. (Genesis 6:9)
Abraham was promised a son, it “took too long” so Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands and messed it all up. (Genesis 16:1-16)
Moses was on the mountain too long, so the Israelites decided they couldn’t wait any longer for a God to worship, so they made their own gods. 3,000 people died that day.
The generation after Joshua “knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel” and the land that Joshua’s generation fought for, was taken by surrounding nations. (Judges 2:10)
The people wanted a king to be like all of the nations around them because they rejected God as their leader, so they chose Saul and a curse was now on the people. (1Samuel 8:1-21).
Elijah runs away after a great miraculous victory because his life was threatened by Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1-6)
Jonah ran away from God’s orders because he was afraid (Jonah)
It’s so easy for us to read these stories and think, ‘why in the WORLD would they question God after they JUST walked through the Red Sea?” “How would people forget to tell their kids about all of the miracles He did for them?” “Why would they want a King when GOD was their leader?” If we look at our own lives, we are no different then any of these people. We forget every day that the only reason we woke up is because God let us. We forget the only reason the sun is in the sky is because God told it to be there. The only reason we have a job is because God is our provider. The only reason we have hope is because He sent His Son to die for OUR sins. The only reason we are here is for His glory. We forget that God is ALWAYS doing God things, whether we acknowledge them or not.
We can be so guilty of minimizing who He is and what He can do and IS doing because of our limited understanding and ability to look outside of our current circumstances. We can make the assumption that He needs our help to do His job. Just a friendly reminder…He doesn’t need any of our help to do anything. We need HIS help to do EVERYTHING! I know I have been so guilty of trying to “clean myself up” or trying to “work” for His approval, love or salvation. I have removed His grace from my life and try to do it myself and every single time I am left feeling empty and defeated. We need to let God do God things and stop trying to function in a role we have ZERO qualifications to operate in.
Do you need a miracle? Let God do God things
Do you need provision? Let God do God things
Do you need peace? Let God do God things
Do you need comfort? Let God do god things
Do you need hope? Let God do God things
Do you need joy? Let God do God things
Do you need mercy? Let God do God things
Do you need clarity? Let God do God things
Do you need salvation? Let God do God things
We need to get out of His way and place those things at His feet, ask Him to be God in those areas and have the faith to believe His is able to provide. He hasn’t brought you this far to just leave you on your own, He isn’t going to fall off His throne and He isn’t going to look at YOU to do HIS job.
1. In what ways have you tried to step in and play God?
2. How did that turn out for you?
3. Looking back, how was God present but you questioned Him?
