Joyce Meyer said something really profound yesterday, “What you start in the flesh will end in the flesh and God is not obligated to finish what you started”.
This really hit home with me! While God is the author and finisher of our faith, he is not obligated to authorize nor finish our fleshly endeavors. While faith without works is dead, we must be constantly seeking God in all of our works and every step we make. In him we move and have our being!
When King David recovered the Ark of the Covenant and proceeded to bring it back to Jerusalem the Lord’s anger broke out and Uzza (one of David’s men) was killed. According to I Chronicles 15:13, it was because they did not consult God and the Levites did not bring the Ark back the way God had instructed. Even when we have the best of intentions when we move without consulting God for step by step instructions the results can be disasterous. It is not enough to get a yea or nay from God, but we must wait for directions.
In Proverbs 18 we learn that it is not good to have zeal without knowledge and be hasty and miss the way. We are obligated to seek the will of God. Perhaps the reason why God does not answer us in the manner that we wish is because he knows that if we knew our end in the beginning we may not wait for Him to order our steps.
Have you ever finished someone’s sentence because you knew where they were going and it was taking to long to get there? I think we all have. I often do this with my young daughters. They seem to always be talking and it takes forever for them to finish a sentence. The problem is sometimes after finishing one of their sentences I later realize that I missed crucial details in the story they were telling.
If God were to tell us that we were going to get married in the next year, would we wait on the spouse he has for us or would we rush it with the next person we meet? Would we take the time to prepare for marriage or would we just plan a wedding? If God were to tell us that we were going into ministry, would we take the time to train or would we look for opportunities to minister right away? Would we seek out a mentor or assume we were ready?
So, while it is important to make moves in the natural, because faith without works is dead, it is equally important to seek God each and every step of the way. Remember every door that opens isn’t a door that God opened.
Take time today and ask God to order your steps as you take them. Pray that God will open the doors that are for you and close the doors that are not meant for you. God is so gracious and loving and he has committed to walking through life with us! How great is that!
