~ Presuming Upon God

Have you ever done something where you presumed God was in it?  It is too easy to do really.  We can get so involved in a program certain that this is God’s will for us and go for it; we may succeed for a while He is generous like that about our mistakes.

Too often it is a very genuine decision that we are in a critical environment, one where there is a real cause for thinking God may have put in that place because of the need that we are feeling.  This is always a part of the human condition, that we tend to feel that we know best in any situation and if the environment is so rich with emotional responses we can presume we are where we are supposed to be.

For every season of our life Father has a battle for each of us to work on, what that fight is in this particular season will be different for each of us and we have to listen closely to Father to hear what that job is.  It is just as important that we keep in mind the end game.  When God pulls the plug on a task at the end of a particular season we might be right on the top of our job or we may feel hopelessly snowed under.  Neither environment is a default situation for God He chooses to initiate and finish projects when the time is right.

Our motive for commencing any enterprise must arise out of Fathers initiative, to do this we need to be in close contact with Him and be directed by Him.  If we allow our feelings to suggest to us that we can do this or that “for” God then it is probably us thinking and we may pre-empt any plan Father has for that situation.  The first person in a scene may not be the best person to bring resolution in those circumstances.

While Micah 6:8 is our standard for what God desires our lives to look like, it is a platform to build the superstructure of our lives upon.  In case you don’t remember how it goes, this is how the Message put it.

“But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do,
what God is looking for in men and women.
It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour,
be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don't take yourself too seriously — take God seriously.”

As we take the Master at His word and respond to the orders He gives we will learn that the only place worth striving for is right in the centre of God’s will for our lives.  We need to keep the foundation of Micah as our operational framework for it doesn’t matter where Father sends us we will always have those principles to work off: even when we do pre-empt His lead.

Presuming upon God is something that needs to be avoided as much as possible.  Not just because of the fact that we can try too hard but also because it is just as easy to allow pride to sidetrack us in a legitimate placement.  Things have been going along really well and after a while we can start to think that we can take it from here. 

King Saul in the Old Testament was one who did just that, the battles had been won, the prophet had come down to give a sacrifice and suddenly just before a battle the prophet failed to arrive so King Saul make the sacrifice himself not surprisingly the battle was lost.

Be ready in all seasons to look for the Fathers will and act upon that rather than find something to do for God.