Following God

Welcome to those of you who joined me through the devotion I have running at Proverbs 31. If you haven’t read it, click here.

Do you find it hard to follow God? I do. My self-reliant personality would much rather do things myself; make my own plans; forge my own path. And being a mom, where many decisions have to be made and actions taken, only worsens the problem. After all, “mother knows best” right?

Not always. But God does.

It has been a long hard road for me to learn that God knows best and that sometimes other people’s ways are smarter than mine. Which includes my husband. YIKES!!!

You see I am also a card-carrying member of “control freaks anonymous”. I want to control all of the decisions in my home and marriage too.

Can you relate?

What has helped me is to study the lives of biblical characters who went their own way; who didn’t consult their Father. The results were disastrous, at best. Sometimes downright deadly.

So read about the lives of Sarah and Abraham, who lied to try to change circumstances. Or Joshua, who was tricked by an entire Gibeonite army, who seemed like they were from afar with their moldy bread and old wineskins, but who were actually from nearby and dangerous. No one bothered to inquire of the Lord whether or not to believe them. The result was not pretty. 

There are others–Ananias and Sapphira.They met an awful fate for going their own way. Or even those biblical characters who did hear from God and knew what they should do, but refused to do it. Ahem…Jonah? Anyone up for riding around in the belly of a whale for a three day trip?

I pray that all of us learn to pause. In the small things and the monumental. To consult God before answering a child or responding to our husbands. And to seek Him out before making a major decision.

As a result, we will spend much less time wandering and more time walking in step with our Creator.

How about you. How do you practically follow God in your daily life?

Sweet Follow-the-Leader Blessings,

5 Comments

  1. Karen,
    My husband preached on something like this a little while ago. I love it when real life stories show us that God’s way is best. Hope your vacation was amazing!

  2. What an eye-opening devotion! That’s me: too controlling, too impatient to wait for God, too stuck on MY ideas. I’m that person who has an idea of how something should happen and when it DOESN’T turn out that way….well….let’s just say I’m working on turning to God first. I’m also working on MY RESPONSE for when things don’t go MY way or MY plans are interrupted. (Don’t you just love how God uses those things to throw our plans!) Wow, a lot of MY’s in those few sentences….hmm….maybe there’s the problem….

    Thanks, Karen, for being used by God.

    -Amy :)

  3. Thank you for this encouraging words that seem to resound in my heart as I read them. I too struggle with having to make every decision in my household and come from a line of women (mother, aunt,sisters, and cousins) who too make every decision in their house and even in some ways try to influence me to do the same in my own household when I don’t seem to place my input in to a decision my fiancee decides. But I think it is always important to stop and allow GOD to be the third party in my relationship with both my fiancee and I as well as allow GOD to guide my parenting and not shy away from my way of parenting because of comments made by my mother or sisters on the ways I should parent. I now feel that the words you spoke was just a “sticky note” reminder to abide by and allow GOD to lead and Never allow My want to control every decision that is made under my roof to involve my feelings because sometimes God leads others on a road that I am not able to travel thats what makes us unqiuely GOD’s children.

  4. I really enjoyed your devotional today. More and more I have felt the Lord pressing me to trust fully in Him and not myself or anyone else. He has all my answers and all the peace I need. Thanks for sharing it in such an easy-to-relate-to way. God bless!

  5. Hi Karen,

    Oh goodness! Only a week ago, I did the same thing…I made a decision and didn’t bother to inquire of the Lord. And since then I’ve been feeling a little out of sorts during my quiet time with Him. Just this morning, He so gently and graciously reminded me of a thought that had fluttered across my mind concerning this decision. I’m embarassed to admit that although I hadn’t prayed about it, I still thought: I already know the answer; I don’t need to pray.

    Well, what a package–a know it all attitude, pride, and arrogance all wrapped up in me. I repented. And My Loving God forgave me. So glad that I’m not the only one who sometimes presumes to know what God thinks and wants without bothering to ask Him.

    Thanks for the devotion.

    Peace and Hope,
    Deb

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