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I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” Psalm 16:2
I try to pride myself on how my yard looks. I like green grass, neatly trimmed shrubs and weed less flower gardens. It involves hours of work, but when I look out over the lawn a certain amount of pride sets in.
That’s one reason why I cringed as I was loading the fertilizer spreader one day in my garage. “Can I help you put fertilizer on today Daddy? I’ll be careful” I heard my six year-old say.
Instantaneously my mind thought of all sorts of reasons why this wouldn’t work. She was too short to walk and hold the spreader…well, no she wasn’t.
It was a big yard and a hard job…but I knew she’d only want to help for a little while and short attention spans in this case are your friend. Minutes, not hours. A hard lesson I learned long ago. A few minutes of inconvenience makes a world of difference in the life of a little one.
I knew the real reason of course. She wouldn’t walk straight. Some areas may be missed, some would get extra fertilizer. It may not look as green and as uniform as I wanted it.
So while I wanted to hear myself say, “Not today honey.” I heard myself say, “Of course sweetheart. I’ll help you.”
She stayed at it longer than I’d hoped. She missed some spots. She walked in wavy lines, not straight. She didn’t do it at all the way I would…and smiled all the way.
The modern translations of Psalm 16:1 don’t give us an entirely clear picture of what is being said according to some scholars. It may be better translated something like this: “All my work, all the things I have, all my striving is really worthless compared to what you can do.
We often take our work too seriously. Especially those of us in ministry circles. We want to protect our ministry. We point at the growth of our church, readership, book sales, salvations, baptisms and a whole list of other things.
Of course we’d never admit it, but we hold all these things out to the Lord as if to say, ‘Look what I’ve done for you! Look at the amazing things I’ve done in your name! See me!’
Our Heavenly Father smiles and says, nice job my child. The rows aren’t straight. You god too much fertilizer over here, you missed some opportunities over there, He doesn’t really say that of course, but compared to the work He can do our efforts are really pretty small and insignificant.
Do the best you can. Rely on the God of Heaven to strengthen you for the task ahead. Grow deep in your relationship with Jesus. But remember this; all that really matters in life is our walk with him. That doesn’t mean our work for him is meaningless or insignificant. We just need to remember who we are working for and why. When we see positive results, rejoice. But when we struggle in our walk, remember Psalm 16:1.
Our ‘work for the Lord’ may fall short of our expectations, but if we rely on him, it NEVER falls short of his expectations.
PRAYER: Lord God. I confess to you that I want to do great and mighty things for you. I confess this because I also realize that sometimes I put the effort ahead of the reason, I see myself as being more important than I should. Help me by your Spirit to strive for excellence, but rely on you. Amen.
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10
Ten reasons it’s better to follow God’s way instead of man’s way:
- God has my interests as the number one priority in His life. Even though there are billions of people in the world, God is big enough and powerful enough to give me His undivided attention. He wants me to succeed above all else!
- God is the only one that knows my true potential. Others may see me as a failure or measure me by standards they have set for themselves. I may have bought into that mentality as well, thinking I can never be financially strong, build strong relationships, be a good parent, and be a good spouse. God knows better. He made me just as I am. He knows what I can do if I let Him have complete control of my life.
- God understands my fears. Fear of failure is the biggest thing that keeps us from moving out of our comfort zone. Even our closest friends may not be able to understand how strong that fear is. God knows. He looks on my heart. Some people may try to dismiss our fears as unwarranted and silly. Our fears aren’t unwarranted to God. He understands and wants to build His confidence in me.
- God doesn’t change His mind. Isn’t it frustrating when you ask advice from people and act on it only to have them say “You know, I think you should go this direction instead”? God won’t do that. He has your life already planned out. All of your tomorrows are in His hands. If He leads you in a direction He won’t second-guess Himself.
- God isn’t ever wrong. NEVER! Nothing more needs to be said. If we believe God to be who we think He is we have to accept the fact that He knows better and is never wrong.
- God knows what works. Thomas Edison once said “The only people who have never failed are those who have never tried anything new”. Who better to bounce ideas and dreams off of than the creator of the universe? Because we are His number one desire He will never lead us into failure. Many times, if we look back, we will see that the things we thought were failures were really stepping stones God used for later success. He can even use our poor choices for His good if we turn to Him.
- God gives me the resources for success. God loves me. He wants me to succeed. He will never lead me into a situation where I don’t have the gifts to accomplish what He wants in my life.
- God isn’t unrealistic in His expectations. Since He has given me gifts to accomplish what He wants for me and knows my potential then I can know that the things He wants me to do are totally within the realm of possibility.
- God’s rules protect me, not Him. Sometimes we may feel God’s rules are confining. Others may say that they won’t follow God because there are too many rules. Belief in God isn’t about rules, it’s about relationship. The things God asks of us are for our own protection and our own good. As a loving Father He only wants His best for us.
- Following God leads to fulfillment NOT frustration. Following people is frustrating. Everyone has their own ideas of what works, what is right, how others should act or react. Trying to follow all those ‘ideas’ can lead to frustration. Turning our lives completely over to God allows Him to bring us a peace that passes all understanding.
PRAYER: Father God, there are so many times when I’m swayed by the words of men and women. Sometimes, even though these people are well meaning they don’t understand me and how I work. I thank you that You understand me. You believe in me completely and want more than anything else to see me live a fulfilled life. Help me to grow in knowledge of you and to follow your ways. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 