Let It Be So

                

“Yet my people have forgotten me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways on the ancient roads and make them walk on new paths not the highway.” Jeremiah 18:15 

Spiritual growth is a fight. It will always be a fight not to forget. It will always be a fight to forget who fights for me. It will be a fight to continue to turn my mind to Christ. My mind will always desire to go before God, it will tell me fear and anxiety are normal and to stay there. It will tell me that surrender isn’t what is needed it will want me to fix it myself. And I will always fall short. God never one time asked me to be God. 

He offers me personal submission to His rule. The choice is mine. He offered it back to the Israelites and sent so many others with the same message. It was because they just like I do abandon the belief that He was always what they needed alone and just decided to add Him to the mix. We do it all the time. We might not recognize it, but it looks like trust God and trusting in my anxious thoughts. Or trying to go before God when He clearly tells us to lead. Lord, forgive my waywardness help me rely on you alone.

“Yet LORD, you are the Father; we are the clay, and you are the potter, we are the works of your hands.” Isaiah 64:8

A slow walk through Jeremiah has been a constant reminder of when we put other things above God. They not only fell away from God but from one another. They burned incense to all the other useless gods and the final straw was God releasing them to their sin. Disciplining them in a way that showed Him love. Judgement came and now they were going to see the results of not listening and continuing to turn away. I thought about my discipline I have received from my sin. Or how the Lord continues to work within me now to continue to teach me how to live. He disciplines us because He loves us.

Faithfulness can bring fruitfulness. All along He was teaching the Israelites to live in a way that allowed Him to guide and direct their EVERY step. He does the same for us. He desires that we choose to be faithful to Him alone. But the choice is ours. I can’t be removed from His Hand, but I can choose to allow Him to mold me and make me more like Jesus. We are the works of His Hands. 

Father,

You desire to be near us. You have and always been about giving us that access to be near you and did that through Jesus. Spiritual growth is a fight but knowing that you fight for us gives us permission to submit and allow surrender to happen. Surrender brings peace. Surrender brings you Reign and Rule within our hearts and minds. The choice is ours Lord. Each and every day is opportunity to start again. Let it be so Lord that you would be known so that others can know you Jesus.

Amen