When God Doesn't Behave - Part 2

1 Chronicles 15:1-3, 12-14, 2 Samuel 6:13-19

Through these passages we can see what King David did with his anger and his terror of God. These are the steps that we must take as Christians when God does not act the way we want Him too.

I have heard Beth Moore say that the first step is that we have to get over our "personal devastation" with God. We must remember that He is God. He is not like us. His ways and His thoughts are higher than our ways and our thoughts. We must accept the things in our life as part of God's sovereign plan for our lives. If the circumstances we find ourselves in were partially caused by our own sin, we must take responsibility, but also know that God has allowed this to happen for a reason and if we will allow Him, He will never waste an experience.

I recently read a story about a Christian woman who lived in Russia during the Communist regime. She has MS and the disease had progressed to the point of her only being able to move one index finger. However, she was fluent in several different languages. Everyday and until late into the night she used a typewriter and that one index finger to translate the Bible and books by Billy Grahm and Corrie ten Boom into the languages of her Christian brothers and sisters. We might think, "why would God allow her to have MS?" But, the answer is that during that time many of her neighbors and friends were imprisoned or killed due to their faith in Christ, but the police left her alone because they felt she was harmless. She could have been devastated and bitter, but she chose to continue to follow after Christ. Amazing.

The second thing we must to is to return to complete obedience. We see that vividly in scripture. David was angry and afraid. Instead of staying that way the rest of his life, he searched the scriptures to see what he should have done to bring the ark of the LORD back to Jerusalem. God blessed his total obedience.

David is called a "man after God's own heart". How amazing that our God chose to associate Himself with someone that among all his other sins, was angry and terrified of Him at one point. That sounds a little like me. I wonder, will God call me a woman after His own heart if I continue to follow hard after him the way David did? If we refuse to allow Satan to sneak in and fill our minds with hatred and bitterness over situations that did not turn out the way we wanted them to and continue to seek and glorify God, I believe He will.

Today, if this has spoken to you personally, repent, move past your personal devastation with God, and return to total obedience. If this does not apply to you, pray for someone that it does and ask God for an opportunity to share it with them. We can be set free today. The cell door is open. Will we choose to close it back or walk through it?