So when a question began percolating in my mind the other morning after reading a devotional, I thought, I know just the group of ladies to ask for insight and explanation! Please allow me to pick your brain, and please, comment freely!
The classic daily devotional, Streams in the Desert, says (and I have heard it phrased slightly differently and other variations of the thought many other times):
"We all know how impossible it is to rescue a drowning man who tries to help his rescuer, and it is equally impossible for the Lord to fight our battles for us when we insist upon trying to fight them ourselves. It is not that He will not, but He cannot. Our interference hinders his working."
Why
would a Christian ever say that we hinder God in any manner? Can man ever
hinder God or be in His way? What are we saying when we say things like that? Surely
we're not saying anything is impossible for God, or that He cannot do
something. It would be like saying that the tiniest black sugar ant in my
kitchen hinders me from doing the dishes.
Ladies, what do we really mean when we say that God can't work without our cooperation, or that we are in His way?
OK, here goes, though my first comment may confuse the matter more than resolve anything! I have heard the opposite of what this devotional said, that is isn't that God cannot, but that He will not. The last sentence of the quote says, "our interference hinders his working". Could that refer to the work He desires to do in our hearts? For surely, He desires that our hearts be submissive to His will. As I read last week the account in Luke 22:47-53 of Judas betraying Jesus, I was struck by Jesus' rebuke to the one who cut off the ear of the soldier. "Stop! No more of this!" I don't believe that God's plan would have been thwarted, but Jesus wanted them to submit to God's plan just as He had moments before responded in submission to the Father, "yet not My will, but Yours be done."
ReplyDeleteHi, what your question shows me is that the people that right this devotional did not take care if the wording of it. I don't think it is intentional, but it is a poor choice of a verb that it can be performed only by imperfect creatures, not by a perfect God. I believe that God is respectful and as much as we cry out for his help, and as much as He would love to help us to overcome a situation, He expects us to show humbleness by giving up control totaly, then he will act powerfully. In any case, I would say that we hinder ourselves when we are not willing to give control in the middle of the crisis.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment was not actually deleted. It was a duplicate of the previous one. User error - me.
DeleteHi Ladies. I think it should say "our interference hinder us from fully enjoying his power in the middle of a crisis". God wants a humble submission from us to show His power, that ends up protecting us from pride, knowing that it was not any of our efforts, but all His power.
ReplyDeleteNot a problem Jan, I am surprised that I was able to post anything. I am so bad for this things. This was the very first blog post I have ever made. I probably send it twice thinking that I had lost the first one.
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