Have you ever been resistant to something? You give a hard no, dig your heels in, deny it as long as possible …
Hopefully I’m not the only one! I don’t want to admit this, but I am a bit hard-hearted when it comes to a particular area of my life. I want to do God’s will, I ask Him to lead me, but … well, that’s the problem.
But I’m scared. But it makes me uncomfortable. But I’ve never been there or done that before. I don’t know what’s ahead or care to find out.
Unfortunately, that’s my reality. And I have to be real about it in order to surrender and obey.
It is the desire of my heart to be moldable, cooperate with God, and follow eagerly where He leads. Why then would I draw a line in the sand and refuse to cross it?
Romans 8:7-8 says, “The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” But, it goes on: “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.”
Cue Galatians 5:16-17. “I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”
The believer’s relentless battle comes to mind. Paul expresses (rather intensely) in Romans 7,
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate … For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
– Verses 15, 19
My sin can be just as much what I’m not doing as what I am doing. Reluctance and hesitancy prove my fleshly tendency to turn from God. They may not be grievances I am actively committing, but they are just as errant. In fact, I am knowingly (and stubbornly) withholding from God what is rightfully due Him.
That’s not good. But I have to be honest with myself, you, and ultimately God, in order to submit to His desires and let Him work on my heart.
God’s Provision: It seems like God’s patience is a well that never runs dry! He does with us like He did with Israel, as He showed them through a potter and the prophet Jeremiah.
And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do (18:4).
Word of the Week: Sculpt. Meaning carve or create, the original implication was to hollow out. I need to be emptied—scooped out, maybe!—so the Lord can give me a new heart
Abby
