“Then the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded, and he went to meet King Asa as he was returning home from battle. “Listen to me, Asa!” he shouted. “Listen, all you people of Judah and Benjamin! The LORD will stay with you as long as you stay with Him! Whenever you seek Him, you will find Him. But if you abandon Him, He will abandon you.” (2 Chronicles 15:1-2)
If I know – or even have a glimpse of what God’s hand can do – why would I ever want to do anything but seek Him? If I can remember what God has done in the past – both in my life and the lives of others – why would I ever want to abandon Him? My guess is that whether we seek Him or abandon Him will be determined by how intentional we are. Sitting passively in my day to day (in other words – not being intentional about spending time with Him and keeping Him in the forefront of my mind) prevents me from easily or routinely calling on God for help or seeking God when troubles arise. My brain is not trained to do so without my training it to do so. Daily. In both the big and small circumstances of my life. In times of thanksgiving and in times of desperate need and everything in-between.
Currently, I am finding myself in a time of desperate need. I see no solution apart from God’s intervention. But here’s the thing – I wish that I wouldn’t try and fix things on my own power first. I wish that I would always remember that I never have to get to the point of overwhelm or fear by that which is out of my control. Instead, if I give the situation over to my God, I can trust Him with it. When I give it to God and seek His help I no longer have the responsibility of trying to lead and lead well – I need only to follow His lead with confidence instead of fear. “But as for you, be strong and courageous, for your work will be rewarded.” (2 Chronicles 15:7)
Most likely God will call me to be a part of what He plans to do. However, I believe with all my heart that God desires for us to join Him in what He is planning instead of planning something and asking Him to join or bless me. It’s not that God wants to withhold His blessing from me or from my work – it’s rather that God wants to be lifted up into His rightful place as LORD of my life. That means: He is in charge. Not me. And truth be told – I want Him to be in charge. He is so much better at it!
I am not sure what giants you are facing – but I can tell you that for me, my giants are too big! I have no plan. I have very few ideas or suggestions. Truthfully, as I look around my workplace I am seeing the breakdown in society on what appears to be steroids. Dysfunctional homes, multi-generational abuse, drug users giving birth, homelessness, neglect, sexual abuse, depression, gender identification, entitlement, poverty, violence and extreme exposure to it, absent parents – friends this is an elementary school! How do we fix the behaviors that arise from that which is completely beyond our control? How can we get a grasp on that which our society cannot – and even encourages?
I don’t know. But God does. God can. He alone can. If God can raise the dead than He can certainly heal the dying.
So, instead of trying to fix it on my own, I am choosing to trust in the LORD’s provision and seek His help. I am choosing to let Him lead and I will do my absolute best to follow. And until the situation is made right, I will keep crying out to my God for help, knowing that He is a God who hears the cry of His people.
Blessings!