Getting a Grip 01 In Him

Getting a Grip 01 In Him

Psalm 44:6 ESV
For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.


As I read this verse this morning I was struck by how often I do trust in my bow and/or my sword.  It's a really bad habit for me and is a constant issue in my prayers.  I think I can - and that I can without His help.

It's like I want to show Him how I can do things without Him.  A lot of it is the old "Look at me Daddy," needs we grow up with.  I want Him to be proud of me and to see me do (on my own) amazing things.  I don't think it is as much rebellion as it is immaturity, an echo of a childhood of never being good enough.

Do you know what I mean?

I titled this Getting a Grip becasue this is something (among others) we all need to get a grip on.  We need to have Him bring us to the place where we can accept and be comfortable with our every present NEED for Him.

It's is not a matter of inability - we all have abilities - but rather it is a matter of recognizing and accepting that serving Him is a cooperative effort.  We bring what He has gifted us with and He makes it accomplish what He wants the way He wants.  It is about using our talents to bring the glory to HIm.  Perhaps we could say it's a, "Look at God folks," thing.

I am too full of myself too often.  I want God (or at least I act like I do) to sit and watch me do for Him and have Him applaud.  But I am learning that although He does value all I do for Him, if I do it on my own it may be good and nice but it will always be, in some way, deffective and deficient.

 John 15:5 ESV
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

We make much of being branches but too often we act as though we were vines.  It is only in being attached to the vine that allows the brach to be fruitful.  What a branch produces apart form the mine is simply kindling for the fire.  That's a tough thing to realize and accept but it is true.

We want to glorify God in all we do but we can't do that until we are willing to accept that He glorifies Himself in and through us.  He needs no help - but graciously allow us to be a part of His workings.  We need the humility, the awareness and the willingness to be second fiddle.  It's hard work and takes consistant watching and prayer.  But in those moments when we are indeed being branches we have a sense of it.  As we work we see the fruit and revell in it - it's His fruit but He used us in producing it.

John 15:5 ESV
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

I read this verse and the last part always strikes me.  I find myself rewriting it - for  my own benefit - to make the point to myself.  Here's my version:

"Apart from me, anything you do, is nothing."

That's an "ouch" but isn't it true.  Isn't everything - anything we do apart from Him simple self-loving attempts to get noticed?  Are not our attempts to show God we can do it on our own subtle attempts to show Him we don't really think we need Him (ouch).

I recommed you commit to memory two verses.  Of course one if John 15:5 and the second is:

Philippians 4:13 ESV
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Use these as book-ends for your prayers and planning. Stay between these two hedges - on the right path.

Do nothing - Do all things.

Which would you prefer?

Tough questions - deep thoughts. 100513

John Owen wrote in his work, On Being spirituall Minded;

Can the majority of Christians honestly say that they think of such things {{hardship, calamity and disaster}} in such a way that leads them trust themswlves nd ll they love and have to God?  Can they say they so meditate on God's providential calls and warnings as to make themselves ready to part with anything and everything at God's time and pleasure"  How can such people pretend to be spiritually minded when all their thoughts resisit the idea of trusting everything to his will and pleasure?

I want to answer "Yes," to the first two questions but I am deeply confronted by a hesitation, a cold chill that goes to the bone.  I am hindered by pride and fear.  Perhaps the greatest fear is of man and what man might say of me if God were to call for it all.

It is common to see those who, even by God's providence, lose it all as failures, objects of scorn and pity.  It is common to withdraw from those in such distress as we look for their failures that have brought about their circumstances.  It is easier to leave them alone than to draw near.   It is easier to look for some blame to lay at their feet than to contemplate as an act of God's providence, a part of His plan.

I think many of us would rather suffer some disease and hence be empoverished than to have the hand of God sweep everythiing away.  Then we would have a reason, a cause for it and still be able to hold up our heads and look people in the eye.

To trust everrything to His will and pleasure is what He means by calling ut to be alive to Him and dead to ourselves and the world.  To trust everything to Him - or at the very least to struggle to do so is the fundamental condition in which we are called to live.  It is dieing to self - and to the good graces and acceptance of other people.

When we pray, "Thy will be done." do we realize what we are asking, what we are saying, what He might do?  I don't think we do.  I know that I have grown to be chilled when I pray that.

But it is my rebellious and tainted heart that is chilled.  It is the remnant of sin - that principle of evil yet dwelling in me that makes me struggle to simply surrender.  So I find myself in a fight with God and a struggle to maintain my sanity.  The assurances that "Everything will be OK," does little moer than drive my thoughts to death and the assurances I have of eternal lie with Him.  This is not a bad thing but it should not be the first thing.

When God acts in our lives whether we sense it to be good or bad, sour or sweet, it is for His glory and honor.  Are we willing to see Him glorified in our lives in a painful and uncomfortable manner?  Are we willing to suffer and have man-imposed shame torment our heads and hearts?

I want to and I don't want to.  I say "Yes!  BUT....."

And I ask Him to forgive me.