January 5 – Guided By God (Psalm 81:11-16)

“If my people would but listen to me, . . . How quickly would I say due their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!”
(Psalm 81:13-14)

IN WORD:
The hardest aspect of the Christian life is to learn to submit to God in all things. His yoke is easy, but remembering to be bound by it s difficult. We worship Him for His goodness, we thank Him for His love, we pledge to be His disciples, and we ask Him for His wisdom. All the while, the nuts & bolts of following Him are hard to grasp. When it comes to making decisions, we still like our independence.
What is it about our independence that so intrigues us? Why are we so captivated with our decision-making powers? Why, even when we know that a sense of autonomy is Satan’s specialty and the root of our sin, do we insist on maintaining little pieces of it in various corners of our lives? Why, when God tells us one thing and our internal compulsions tell us another, do we often choose the compulsions? What does that say about our trust in God?
That’s what the fall of man in the Garden of Eden was all about: mistrusting God and seeking our own interests. And that’s still what sin is all about. When we choose our own will over God’s, we’re mistrusting Him and trusting ourselves. How absurd is that?! We forget the most basic of all biblical teaching: God’s will is ALWAYS in our best interest!

IN DEED:
Are you convinced of that? The Christian life will always be a struggle until we know deep down in our hearts that His commands — even the hard ones — are ultimately for our benefit. We can be sure that the best way to seek our own self-centered interests is to be entirely God-centered. In this paradox, godliness and the self-life meet. Or, as Jesus said, “Whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:33). Our happiness is deeper and richer when we listen to Him.
In that sense, it is a self-fulfilling act to forsake our own will and submit to His. Submission seems so noble, but we have a lot at stake in it. When we serve Him, we are serving ourselves. Believe that wholeheartedly, and see what happens.

“If God’s will is your will and if He always has His way with you, then you always have your way as well.”
-Hannah Whitall Smith-