Monday, August 23, 2010

Trust God But Do The Work

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." -- Proverbs 16:3

We want to do good things. We want to succeed. We want God to pave the way so that we can kind of just show up and take the glory. Oops.

Don't get me wrong. I know some people truly do work hard for the Lord. They show up when other people sleep in. They don't mind getting dirty. They pray diligently. They raise money for good causes. A few even stay in the background, refusing to accept any glory or participate in any limelight things. Others do good for others so they can feel good about themselves. They want to like the person they see in the mirror. They want other people to look on them with favor.

Other people have great plans. They seek God's will, start the journey, then wait. After all, if it truly is God's will then He'll do all the work. Won't He? God is the creator of miracles so why should they have to work to make His plans happen. They just sit back and wait -- then blame God when nothing happens.

Of course, some people seek God's will and then work hard to make it happen. They show up every day, determined and focused. They give God complete control of the project -- until He goes one way and they want to go another. That doesn't work for them. So they snatch back control and God's will becomes a thing of the past. That's never a good idea and they eventually learn why.

It's not always easy to seek God's will and work hard toward the end result. Especially since we humans tend to want it done yesterday. We forget that God's time and ours are vastly different. We get discouraged. We get frustrated and give up.

I love what David said to his son Solomon when he gave him advice on building the temple. I imagine that project might have been a little overwhelming, regardless of the fact that David had everything ready. 1 Chronicles 28:20 says, "David said to Solomon his son, 'Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you...'"

What awesome advice!!! My Bible footnotes had another great piece of advice. It said to trust God as if everything depends on Him but work as if everything depends on me. Yeah, that sounds about right.