Let Him step in

I started writing this not too long ago when things where looking shaky in my life and I was thinking about quitting... Not thinking of quitting God(God forbid), but thinking about withdrawing back to the hard inaccessible shell that most of us withdraw to during hard times. Withdrawing as I used to call it to protect myself. Everything happens for a reason yes and sometimes it is easier, a lot easier, to say a story after you have had the happy ending, easier to recite the stories five years on when everything has been sorted out and we are all the happier. It is a lot harder to say those stories when they are happening to you and they are happening to you at the moment. Like Juanita Bynum said in her book "No more sheets", people are more likely to listen to you if you relate with them based on what they are going through. As i thought of quitting, one sentence popped into my head, the last thing I wanted to hear at that moment not because it was wrong but because it would have meant me doing the very opposite of what I wanted to do in my heart a simple sentence "Let Me step in" and immediately I remembered Rev 3:19 and 20. There are several people from the bible I reminded myself about, not just because they were great but because they were human.

Now I don't know how many people here have had their life put on the line for the thing they cared about the most. To Abraham it happened twice (not counting Isaac) when not one but two different kings took his wife away from him. He lied to save his life and while right now to many people it makes a good reading, I tried to imagine what it would have been like for him that night, his fear of death, the fear that made him give up Sarah/Sarai, his despair, his pain. I wonder what pushed God to step in, I mean back in the day people pretty much did anything they wanted. I didn't have to wonder too much to go back to Rev 3:20. He opened the door to his life for God to step in and stay in and his life pretty much says the story. Reading on Isaac did the same thing (and looking at them all it is little wonder Jacob was as smart as he was strong dominant genes must show)

Abraham's grandson Joseph, started out as a dreamer and a spoilt child a guy am sure would have been very annoying. He was sold into slavery and an insight into the kind of life he lived after then was shown when potiphar's wife confronted him. Now as we all know egyptian women back in the day were Egyptian women. He stayed strong not because of Potiphar but because it would be a wicked thing against his God (Genesis 39:8). And that egyptian woman did not come in one day (as I once believed). She worried Joseph daily (a worrior indeed) to the point where she had to take action. We know JOseph's story, I won't even try to put myself in his shoes (I can't dare) but he stayed strong and because he opened the door to his heart and God stepped in and stayed in, we know the happy ending...

Moses, saved from certain death by what I would call a divine hand.I won't go into much talk but go straight to the point. Moses could have been said to be hard and hot tempered, tome right now, Moses was one of the most humble men in the bible. There is a reason why He was the only person that spoke to God face to face and knew it. Two questions I ask here; if you were leading the Israelites of that time and went through all they put Moses through, what would you do(I mean a journey that was supposed to take not more than a year took 40 and that is not even a bit of what he went through)? If you had a choice, punish someone yourself or leave God to do it, I mean if God gave you that choice which would you pick(I would personally drink gold flavoured water any day than let God have a go at me in his anger)? Moses opened up and let God step in and stay in...
We have Daniel, Samuel, ELijah and Elisha, Esther, Job, the prophets, David, the apostles, different people who opened up and stayed open and through them, God did mighty things here on earth.

Now what point am I trying to make (to me first and then to everyone else)...
I used to run my life like a JVC (Joint venture company to all who don't know). Me having 70% of my life and God having 30% or less. My life on sundays and some mornings, and me having all the rest. Meaning in times of credit crunches and financial crisis, heart aches and burns, general problems, work problems, family problems and school problems I ran to "my Lord" for a bailout. Forgetting all the pensions and salaries I paid to the CEO's in my life, the investment mistakes I made with my time and the places I hung out. The words I said and exposed myself to... In summary letting God step in only when I needed Him to. I thought of this a while ago about it not being about getting broken and having God fix you but staying broken so He never has to leave. Its not about getting the bailout every now and then, but its about handing your JVC to the right government... No one can serve two masters, you can't be lukewarm, you can't be a fence straddler, not if you want God to stay in.
Looking through the bible, apart from when men of God cried out for forgiveness when they strayed, I can't remember a place where they actually prayed to God about wanting something for themselves. I wonder whether it was because they didn't need anything. SOlomon asked for wisdom to rule his people. NOt wisdom for himself. Abraham didn't ask to be a father of many nations, Enoch didn't ask for God to come and carry him to heaven and neither did Elijah, Elisha on his dying bed did not ask for healing, Jesus dying on the cross only mentioned these words, if it is your will, then let it be done. What am I saying, letting God step in takes trust, trusting that He will take care of you and sort you out, letting God step in means that He makes the decisions and you follow. It means that as a representative the only thing men should be able to say about me that is bad is that I serve God and him alone... There is so much but then finally I will say it involves being at peace with all men sorry I mean ALL MEN!!! A lot of things I used to take on the surface that now have a much deeper meaning to me.

God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all, when He steps in, that light shines fromw within, it shines out to the whole world and gives us peace from within, peace with all men notwithstanding the conditions but outshining it all. God stepping in and taking total control gives us right standing with Him making us be exactly where He wants us to be and helps us identify the exact moment when He is out.