July 9 , 2007

Let God Do It!

A friend once told me that if God was going to do it I needed to let God do it. For those of you that are like me sometimes we want to hurry God along, give Him a little help doing His job. You know for some reason we believe God’s timing is not perfect. He is not moving fast enough for us, so we try to help Him. Sometimes we want to help because we can see a friend or situation headed for disaster or at least headed in the wrong direction. A direction that we do not believe is good for them. It could be a relationship, it could be something emotional, physical or spiritual. All we know is that it does not look good.

I had a friend that was addicted to crack cocaine. He went through the process of rehab and after it was completed the counselors encouraged him not to go home, because the environment was not good for him. He had money now and now that he was clean he had the ability to work and make more money so he was enticed into going home. He chose to go back contrary to the counselor’s instructions and found himself walking into a home that was drug infested. The drugs were not hidden, they were visibly displayed on the coffee table like you would keep mints or nuts. While we all knew that he did not need to go home and the counselors advised against it, he went anyway and there was nothing any of us could do, but allow God to be God. Needless to say he relapsed quickly.

You may have a friend that goes from relationship to relationship trying to find something.

Another friend that works out 3 hours per day 7 days per week trying to reach that ideal body that everybody wants, working out has become an obsession.

Maybe you have a friend that is putting God’s name on everything that they do as a way to condone their behavior and thoughts, when it is obvious what they are talking about does not line up with the Word of God in any way.

Before you frustrate yourself and everyone around you, get a clue that you cannot fix people. You cannot fix their situations and you cannot keep them from being hurt. That is God’s job and sometimes people have to go through because that is what God is allowing. He does not allow it to hurt them, but our choices often put us in positions that God never intended. Save yourself some upset and rather than trying to fix them or even get them through the situation, pray for yourself and them. Seek God for direction to find out what He wants you to do. Be prepared, because He may tell you to stand still. To keep your focus on Him and let Him deal with them. It will be difficult, but you can do it if you keep your focus on God.

I was talking to a friend one day and there were some things I really wanted to discuss. I even went so far as to set up an appointment to discuss the situation. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to discuss things thoroughly. Five minutes before the scheduled time for the discussion, I was ready to go, I knew what I wanted to say in an effort to help my friend see more clearly and understand my point. I wanted to help them work through some things in the conversation and the Holy Spirit spoke to my spirit clearly and said “NO! You are not their counselor, I am! Leave then to me.”

The response was so definite and clear that I knew there was nothing for me to say. As soon as God spoke the phone rang and I was not allowed to speak. As my friend began to talk, looking for me to say what I had to say, out of obedience to God I said nothing. It was obvious based on the conversation why God had silenced me. I was one of several counselors for this friend and they did not need to hear from any of us any more, they needed to hear from God. We were causing confusion, which is a trick of the enemy. It was very difficult for me to remain silent and not share everything that was on my heart, but I understood why and chose to be obedient to God. Sometimes the more we say the more we push the person in the very direction, toward the very thing we were trying to pull them away from.

The bible says, that the Lord will fight your battles. All the things that have been spoken against you and every misunderstanding that has taken place He is more than able to expose and correct. You don’t have to defend yourself against attacks any more, to try to explain anymore and you do not have to try to be everyone’s savior. Let God do it! Yes, it will hurt to see friends, co-workers and family members get into situations that you know are not good for them. Yes, you will want to keep them from making unnecessary mistakes and going in the wrong direction, but remember that you grew through the mistakes you made and so will they.

Your speaking will inevitably set up a wall between the two of you that pride will try to stop both of you from bringing down or walking through to get back to God for fear of I told you so.

Make your words few and let God do what He needs to do in the situation to draw them back to Himself and His leading. Even when the end of the road seems obvious leave it to God. Remember that your friend, co-worker or family member belongs to God and God loves them more than you do and more than you know. Be there when they reach the end of the road they have chosen, because they may need you. Be there with love not with I told you so. Most of all keep praying for them as they go through realizing that this is part of their journey and it will be necessary for them to get where they are supposed to be walking in whatever purpose God has for them.

  Weekly Scripture:

Hebrews12:2: 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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