"Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works."
Jacob 4:10
This is a good reminder. Sometimes we talk to God about what *we* want, even to the point of demanding things from him, or accusing him of disinterest if he doesn't cater to our desires. And, you know, sometimes that kind of manipulation works on regular people, but this is God we're talking about. We could be learning so much about *his* will, and the miracles and wonders thereof instead of wasting time and energy trying to get our way.
We run up against our own wills over and over again in life. Sometimes we're trying to figure out what we want, and other times we know, and we're trying to get it. I think that the real stretching comes though when we know what we want and we also know it isn't a good idea. Those are the conflicts that are going to define us by how we handle them. We can either walk away from what we know is right, or we can learn to change our hearts through Christ... and that is the exact difference it is talking about in this verse. We can either counsel God, letting him know that this is what we want, and we are going to go after it with or without him, or we can ask for his help because we know that we are drawn to some things that are going to mess up our lives, and we need his help to avoid making those choices, and to learn not to want them anymore.
Today, let's remember that we can choose who we are. We don't have to chase our desires, and we don't have to keep being who we are now. If we know what we want, then we still have a choice whether to go after it or not. Our hearts are NOT always right. In fact, as we learn in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." When we feel that inner conflict, let's side with the Lord, and learn to take counsel rather than chasing our desires into places that will destroy us.
Jacob 4:10
This is a good reminder. Sometimes we talk to God about what *we* want, even to the point of demanding things from him, or accusing him of disinterest if he doesn't cater to our desires. And, you know, sometimes that kind of manipulation works on regular people, but this is God we're talking about. We could be learning so much about *his* will, and the miracles and wonders thereof instead of wasting time and energy trying to get our way.
We run up against our own wills over and over again in life. Sometimes we're trying to figure out what we want, and other times we know, and we're trying to get it. I think that the real stretching comes though when we know what we want and we also know it isn't a good idea. Those are the conflicts that are going to define us by how we handle them. We can either walk away from what we know is right, or we can learn to change our hearts through Christ... and that is the exact difference it is talking about in this verse. We can either counsel God, letting him know that this is what we want, and we are going to go after it with or without him, or we can ask for his help because we know that we are drawn to some things that are going to mess up our lives, and we need his help to avoid making those choices, and to learn not to want them anymore.
Today, let's remember that we can choose who we are. We don't have to chase our desires, and we don't have to keep being who we are now. If we know what we want, then we still have a choice whether to go after it or not. Our hearts are NOT always right. In fact, as we learn in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." When we feel that inner conflict, let's side with the Lord, and learn to take counsel rather than chasing our desires into places that will destroy us.
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