Maranatha Messenger

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO?

BELIEVE GOD (Part 1)

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? First of all, you must embrace the scriptures. Secondly, you must seek God in prayer. But thirdly, you must simply believe God.

1. By the way, for you control freaks, this is probably the most difficult thing to do. To turn your life over to the headship of another is certainly difficult. We like to think we’re in control! We need our hands on the reigns! We want to be in the driver’s seat (Proverbs 3:5-6).

2. Nevertheless, as a believer we must simply believe in the sovereignty of God. He is ultimately in control of all things. Norman Geisler helps us define this theological term; Geisler says, “Sovereignty is God’s control over His creation, dealing with His governance over it: Sovereignty is God’s rule over all reality.”[1] Therefore, the child of God must willingly surrender to the Lordship of Christ. We must submit to His authority.

3. Such yieldedness is accomplished by faith alone. I must believe that God is supreme above all others.

4. So what is the problem? I call it “self-imposed idolatry.” Let me explain, something terrible takes place in our life. We get angry at God and begin to question Him! God, “why did you let this happen to me?” In essence we are making God accountable to us. It almost appears that we want God to get our approval before He does something in our universe. Instead of letting God be God we want Him to be accountable to us. My friend, God is not accountable to you, you are accountable to God. He doesn’t owe you an explanation!

5. “Self-imposed idolatry” is when the believer interrogates God as if He is accountable to them. We might not build graven images. We probably won’t erect an altar of worship for a wooden god. However, in the darkness of our heart we push God off the throne and replace Him with self. We want God to be answerable to us! We may not articulate our thoughts, but we want some answers from God. This is idolatry!

6. Consequently, this is why we have bitter Christians. They get mad at God! God didn’t do what they wanted! Therefore, they become disappointed. In their minds God did not live up to their expectations. This is the ultimate perversion of humanity.

7. Have you ever had something unpleasant take place in your life? Ever been devastated by something totally out of your control? How about disappointments? What about people? Has anyone ever let you down? What do you do when you face these kinds of circumstances? You can respond one of two ways: You either get bitter or you believe in the sovereignty of God. The only way to get better from a “tragic situation” is simply believe that God always has a purpose for my life. I must believe that nothing can come into my life without His prior approval. Beloved, this is faith!

Questions to Ponder:

1. Why do believers have such a difficult time with the Lordship of Jesus Christ?

2. Define the theological term “the sovereignty of God?”

3. What is “self-imposed idolatry?”

4. Why do Christians get mad at God?

5. When tragedy strikes is God doing something “to us” or something “for us” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

6. Why is faith so important in living a life yielded to Christ (Romans 14:23; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Galatians 2:20; 3:11; Hebrews 11:6;).


[1] Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2003), 2:536.