Mid-Week Message - Father Knows Best

A father was sitting with his little boy in church.  When the boy stood up on the pew, the father told him to sit down.  The little boy shook his head.  He was told again to sit down,  Again he shook his head.  This went on for a few minutes then, finally, the father picked up the tot and sat him down on the seat.  The boy looked up at his dad and said, "I might be sitting down on the outside, but I'm standing up on the inside!"  

Parents can definitely relate to this attitude.  Children have their own ideas about how things should be done and are often defiant when those ways are challenged.  With our daughter, cleaning her room was the biggest difficulty we had with her.  We wanted everything put away.  Everything in its place. However, she liked having everything around her.  We even found out later that there was a fear factor at work. We never discovered why, but she felt that if she had everything on the floor, she was safer.  

Adults face this as well, not only with the rules, or laws, of this world, but in our relationship with the Lord.  Sometimes, we acquiesce on the outside but remain defiant on the inside.  We reluctantly obey without changing our heart.  Addicts white-knuckle through giving up their chosen substance.  Physically, it appears that they are doing well.  A mental or emotional examination though would show that the dependence is still alive and well and simply waiting for a time to reappear.  

So what do we do?  How do we bow before the Lord with pure hearts, truly ready to exchange His will for our own?  The pull of this world is stronger than we can handle on our own.  We do not have the strength to walk away from harmful attachments and addictions.  The first thing we have to do is to admit that we are powerless and that we need His intervention.  We have to ask Him for the willingness to allow Him to work in our lives and to make the necessary changes.  We need His touch and His direction to be able to honestly ask that His will become our will.  

We also need to believe that He is Who He says He is and to seek His forgiveness for living life on our own terms.  He promises to change us from the inside out, to mold us into the beings that He created us to be in the first place.  Jeremiah 24:7 says this, "I will give them a heart to know me, for I am the Lord, and they will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with their whole heart."  What beautiful words!  If we are willing, and if we desire, He will change our hearts into hearts after His own. We will desire Him above all and want His best for our lives.  This will enable us to leave the destructive things of the world behind and allow Him to lead us in the future He has for us.  

We all face rebellion in one way or another.  We all have that little child inside that is determined to do what we want to do when we want to do it.  However, there comes a time when we have to grow up and admit that our way is not the best way and to realize that we still have a Father who knows best.