“But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.”–Jer. 17:23
Yesterday’s devotion was entitled “When God Says ‘No'”. Today I want you to think about when we say “No”. Although it might at first be a disappointment when God says no, it should soon become our delight. We get ourselves into serious trouble when we refuse to seek, acknowledge, or accept God’s will. Yet many are obviously displeased with the will of God. Some act as though He might make a mistake and needs to be monitored by them.Although God’s will is perfect and His ways best, most people refuse to obey His commands, follow His counsel, accept His changes, or heed His warnings. They refuse to give Him their attention, and the outcome is predictable.
God, however is patient, long-suffering and determined. Not only does He speak to us through His Word, He is actively involved in our lives seeking to get our attention. We often talk about our belief that there are no accidents with God, but we don’t seem to believe it. We claim we believe that God either causes or allows everything that happens, but strangely enough we often fail to see His hand in the affairs of our life. While we say God is good all the time, when things are going our way, we act as though that isn’t the case when something displeases us. Like ancient Israel we tend to murmur and complain when our desire is denied.
This is not to say that every bad thing that happens is because we’ve done something wrong–good people have bad problems. They can be for reasons other than correction. but we shouldn’t be so quick to rule out the possibility that our difficultly is divinely designed to correct the course of our life. A trial certainly ought to cause us to pause and investigate the state of our life. God might be trying to tell us something. And if we are disobeying God’s command or refusing to seek His will in our decisions there is good reason to believe that the trial is indeed designed to get our attention. If it is and it doesn’t we can expect things to get worse. To reject, resist, or resent God’s will is dangerous. It would be far better if we would remember that”The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD..”–Psa. 37:23. God’s will is always right, best, and safest! Never say “No” to God.– HDS
