Sis, stop trying to help God. Let God be God

“Yours Lord is the greatness, and the power and the majesty. For everything in heaven and on earth is yours. All things come from you and of your own do we give you.”

 

There are so many songs of praise and worship that declare the glory and majesty of our God. We hear testimonies that magnify the name of God and Bible stories that remind us of the incredible things God has done and continues to do.

Even where we have not experienced these things personally, we have heard enough stories that show how mighty our God is.

 

Yet.

 

We play god.

 

Okay, you will be quick to rebuff this idea that you play god. You may take offense that I have presumed such a thing.

I apologize for getting your hackles up but please take a moment to consider the following:

1. Whose counsel do you seek when you face challenges, yours or God’s? Who is sitting on the throne of your heart: your flesh with its desires or Jesus?

 

2. When you achieve success, awards, money and a host of good things, what is the first thing you do? Do you reward yourself for all your hard work, accept the praises you get for being so smart, so charming and all the many accolades the world throws our way, in moments of triumph?

 

3. Do you find that you often forget to thank God for things and often do so because you feel guilty and not necessarily because it is what you truly want to do?

 

4. When you do go to God for his help, do you find it hard to wait on him and often find yourself helping God? After all, it may take forever to do it God’s way and you only have a limited amount of time, so you do things your way?

 

5. Do you find that you justify helping God by declaring that faith without works is dead, even though you know deep down that what you’re doing may not be what the Bible was talking about?

 

If we are being honest, we may have answered most of the above questions in the affirmative. I know I did.

I would listen to praise songs, worship God and even read my Bible but once I was faced with real-life challenges, I would often run straight to the Chioma life manual rather than go to God.

“But I don’t want to disturb God.”

“He is a very busy God”

Words I used to justify my actions. I would reiterate that God created me to be a strong, independent woman who can resolve her issues.

And when I do go to God, or try to do things God’s way, the time required and fruits of the spirit to be exerted make it a less than attractive option. I don’t always want to be patient or to be kind or loving or gentle. Sometimes, I just want to get what I want when I want.

Perhaps, you’ve also said similar things. You have gone the easy route, helping God along the way.

Or maybe you are still upset at my presumptions and believe they don’t apply to you.

Better yet, you may be wondering what it really means to help God.

Stop trying to help God

Here are two stories that shed some light on how we help God and why we must stop trying to help God and allow Him to be Lord of our lives.

 

How we help God – Sarah’s Story

“The scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from the slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. The son of the slave was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.”

Galatians 4:22-23

From the above, we can deduce a few things:

• Ishmael, Haggai’s son was born because Sarah(and Abraham) had been trying to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham by human effort.
• Isaac was God’s own fulfillment of his promise to Abraham and he came 25years after God first told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. 25years!
• There is always a difference between blessings obtained by human effort and by godly effort. For the latter, the glory always belongs to God for no man, can rightfully state that they did in their power. A 90year old Sarah could not have given birth under human circumstances.

Abraham’s story is one of the most popular Bible Stories.

This story teaches us that God will make good on his promise if we trust Him and wait on him. If you’re anything like me, you may have even scolded Sarah, in your mind, for trying to help God.

We believe we wouldn’t have done what Sarah did. Isn’t it funny how we often think we would have done things better than the Bible characters that got it wrong?

One day, I got a chance to read this story again and my perspective changed. I realized how hard it must have been for Sarah, the pressure and shame she must have felt about being barren. But I also had to realize that this didn’t change the fact that she was using human effort to fulfill God’s promise.

 

Are you helping God in your relationships?

For many of us, we have dated men we shouldn’t have because we were tired of waiting. We may have felt we were getting older and there was so much familial pressure to settle down. Some of us may have even married said men even though we knew deep down that it was not what God wanted for us.

I know I have dated under similar justifications, and I also know I was trying to help God.

Doing things our way never makes things better.

It is only a temporary relief, which may create permanent problems. When we help God we take God’s place as lord of our lives. We limit His power to direct us and ultimately, we limit His ability to fulfill His promises in that area of our life and for the world to see His glory through our lives.

 

How we help God – King Saul’s story

“Meanwhile, Saul stayed at Gilgal, and his men were trembling with fear. Saul waited there seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him earlier, but Samuel still didn’t come. Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away. So he demanded, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!” And Saul sacrificed the burnt offering himself.

Just as Saul was finishing the burnt offering, Samuel arrived…how foolish! Samuel exclaimed. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. Had you kept it, the Lord would have established your kingdom forever.”

1 Samuel 13: 7-9, 13

 

Wow, right!

Many of us can relate to Saul’s predicament because we have been there. Situations where we have done our part but have not heard from God. In moments like this, there is that rush within us to also do God’s part. This is especially amplified when there are people waiting on us. When there is mounting pressure to deliver.

You may have faced this at work, in school, or in your relationships.

Maybe you have a deadline for a business deal, people’s jobs are on the line and you need a regulatory approval or some information to finalize. You have sought the Lord and have done all that you can. At a time like that, it can seem like all is lost. What if, someone offers you an opportunity to pay money to a government official to get the regulatory approval you need? Would you accept it?

These Bible stories take on a new meaning when we transpose them into real-life situations. We quickly realize that doing the right thing is not easy.

The lines get blurred and we look for reasons to justify our actions. In the above story, Saul had been waiting for Samuel but Samuel didn’t come as agreed.

Was this enough reason to do a sacrifice only priests were allowed to do? Certainly not!

We do not have what it takes to help God because only God can help God. He is the only one who knows the details of the present, past and future. He knows where each piece of the puzzle fits.

 

Can you let God be God?

We often complicate things in our bid to make it better, adding layers that are not needed or removing layers that are. We tell ourselves, we are doing what we should but is this really true?

If we checked our motive or reasons for our decisions, can we honestly say it is God-driven or self-driven?

“Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you?… After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?”

Galatians 3:1,3

There are days when I’m no different from the foolish Galatians, days when it’s a struggle to take God at His word. I feel it can’t be this straightforward.

I expect to be perfect before I go to Him, forgetting that he never expected perfection from us. He never wanted us to do life without Him.

God’s plan all along was that mankind would have a real and vibrant love relationship with Him., a relationship where we tell him everything, whether big or small.

Where His opinion on a matter would be the most important thing to us.

Sis, that is the relationship you should be nurturing. Get to know God as he wants to be known, go to Him in everything and stop trying to figure things out yourself.

I will leave you with these words by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;  apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:5

We are nothing without God and need to let God be God.