Have you ever told a child to do something, and they refused to do it? Have you ever really thought about why they don’t do it?
Maybe they don’t do it simply because they don’t want to do it. Maybe they don’t do it because they want to do something else instead. They simply want to do what they want to do. They want it their way.
How about you? Do you want things your way?
Have you ever had God tell you to do something, but you simply did not want to do it that way? You just did not think that was the best way to do it. It made no sense to you. It was simply easier to walk by sight than by faith.
Perhaps you read a passage of scripture, and God spoke to you. You found that passage convicting, but you just did not want to conform. You searched or wanted to search for a loophole. You wanted to be the exception to what God has written.
Do you realize that in a way this is a value judgment about who knows best? It’s almost like saying you actually might know better than the God of the universe. Job had the same problem.
Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
Job 40:6-9
Until we elevate God to His proper place in our own perspective, walking by faith is far harder than it could be. When we dethrone God, we have no clear reason to do what He says.
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-19
What does it mean to quench the spirit? It means that you stop heeding the influences of the Holy Spirit. If you ever quit listening, it will become easier and easier to not hear. One day you may quit hearing altogether.
The biggest problem with the world today is that we have dethroned God. It’s an old story. Consider what Stephen told the crowd that stoned him.
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
Acts 7:51-53
LIFE APPLICATION
Think back to what God said to Job, and try to see things from God’s point of view. We, as the creation, can really believe God more than we do. Like Job, sometimes our problems have a lot to do with our attitude and our perspective.