By Joe Chesser
It’s the height of
foolishness, nonetheless we still attempt to do it from time to time. Our intentions usually are good, but our
methods are flawed, and doomed to fail. Of course we believe in God and trust
Him ... for the most part. But there are times when it seems our faith and
patience runs thin. That’s when we may think we need to help God out a bit to
keep His promises. Not that God has asked us to. Of course we need to do
whatever God instructs us to do. What I'm referring to is not that. It’s when
we take it upon ourselves to try to help God using our own ideas and plans, and
doing so when we think the time is right. Even the strongest among us may think
God needs that kind of help at times.
For example, consider
Abraham. Who among us would dare say that Abraham was weak in faith? After all,
don’t we refer to him as the “Father of the Faithful”? I mean, just because God
said to do it, Abraham set out from his homeland for a place “not knowing where
he was going” (Hebrews 11.8). Later, following God’s instructions, he was in
the process of offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice until God stopped him
(Genesis 22). Yet, in a time of weak faith and thin patience, he attempted to
help God keep His promise of an heir. After waiting years and years for God to
do it Himself, Abraham, at his wife’s urging, tried to help God out by
producing an heir with Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid (Genesis 16.1-3). Sarah was old
and barren (Genesis 18.11). From a physical standpoint, they had waited long
enough; in fact, too long. We know how that Hagar idea worked out, don’t we?
What made Abraham and Sarah think that they could do what it seemed God was not
able to do? What made them think their timing was better than His? What made
them think that God needed their help to keep His promise? I think we know the
answer to those questions!
Centuries later a man
named Naaman questioned God’s methods. He was a great man, a mighty man of
valor that God had used to give victory to Syria ... but he was a leper (2
Kings 5). Naaman had heard that there was a man of God in Israel who could cure
him of his leprosy. After traveling to Israel he arrived at the prophet’s door,
Elisha sent a messenger to the door to tell Naaman to dip seven times in the
River Jordan and he would be cleansed of his leprosy. This wasn’t what Naaman
had expected. “Behold I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand
and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place
and cure the leper” (2 Kings 5.11). He further reasoned that the rivers back
home were better than the Jordan. So he left in a rage. Thankfully for him his
servants convinced him to dip seven times in the Jordan, “and his flesh was
restored like the flesh of a little child” (2 Kings 5.14). God had promised
Naaman cleansing, but it had to be done His way. Like Abraham, Naaman thought
his way was better. It wasn’t. Unfortunately many today haven’t learned that
yet. People are still arguing with God about how to be saved, about to walk by
faith, about how to worship to please Him, etc. When will we learn that we
don’t know more than God? When will we learn that the only way to receive God’s
blessings is to do it His way? When will we learn that we cannot improve on
God’s timing?
One other example is the
Apostle Paul. Before he became an apostle, Paul thought he was helping God by
trying to exterminate all Christians. He did this with a clear conscience (Acts
23.1; 2 Timothy 1.3). Nonetheless he was mistaken; not about his conscience,
but about how he thought he was helping God. Countess people are like Paul,
doing what they think is God’s will, but in reality are not doing God’s will at
all. Jesus verified this when he said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord,
Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, did we not
prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and doo many mighty
works in your name?’ And then will I
declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of
lawlessness’” (Matthew 7.21-23).
The desire to help God
do His work is great. God wants to use us to accomplish His will. But we must
not dare to interject our thoughts for His thoughts, our ways for His ways, our
timing for His timing (Isaiah 55.8-9). God is God, and we are not. Let’s learn
to keep it that way.
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