I Just Don't Want To!

 (05/18/11)

Tonight as I was giving my daughter a shower, she kept whining about the boo-boo she had on her finger.  After telling the ‘drama queen’ to calm down she said the funniest thing, “God won’t let me calm down!”  To which I laughed and said, “God won’t let you calm down?  Yes He will!”  Then she answered, “Well, God will let me calm down, I just don’t want to!”  While admiring her for realizing that important point on her own, I thought how significant that statement truly was.  It was representative of the struggle we face everyday… our will vs. God’s will.  How many times has God tried to keep us calm in the storm so that we don’t make matters worse; yet we continue to whine, fuss, and complain and cause more problems in the end?  How many times has God given us a task and we answered with, “Now is not the right time”… or, “I’m just not ready to do that, Lord”?  We can come up with any excuse we want in order to ease our minds, but we need to realize the truth… we just don’t want to do what it is God may be calling us to do.  So why do we try to block God’s plan for our lives?  Could be fear (probably the biggest reason), laziness, tiredness (we all know that one)… but in the end it comes down to the two “F’s”: free will (the power God has given us all to choose our own course each day), and faith (whether or not we truly believe that God has our best interests at heart).  When Joshua was speaking to the Israelites he said these words, “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15, NIV)  In faith Joshua made his choice.  Let’s make ours.

Matthew 26:36-42 

Daniel 3