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Don't Let This Happen to You

by Jerry Ousley  
11/15/2013 / Christian Living

Have you ever done this? Have you ever conveniently made something you really wanted to do to be "the will of the Lord?" I have. Early in my life there were several times that I really wanted to do something. It wasn't illegal and it wouldn't hurt anyone else (at least as far as I knew), and so I reasoned that it must be the will of God.

For instance, as a junior in high school I strongly felt the call to preach the Gospel. In my mind studying the Bible, learning from other ministers and reading a lot was preparation enough. The little congregation we were attending at the time had given me high marks for what I had learned already. I assumed that our pastor definitely needed help and so in my young mind it sounded plausible to volunteer, quit school and just begin serving the Lord. I thought I was ready. I knew that God's calling was on my life and that there was nothing I'd rather do than serve the Lord by preaching His word and so it made a lot of sense to me.

The morning I made this decision I got up and promptly made the announcement to my parents. I wasn't going back to school. Instead of being proud of me as I thought they would, they were horrified. I only had a year and a half left and I would have completed high school. After telling me that there was no way they were going to let me do that, they also talked with me bringing up a host of good reasons to at least finish high school. I'm no doctor and I've never studied medicine, but I am told that there is a gland of some kind located right at the front of our brains, that doesn't really fully develop until around age twenty-five or so. This gland, if I understand it correctly, keeps us from making harsh and hasty decisions. It explains why a lot of teenagers and young adults make decisions that are ludicrous to us older folks. Looking back at this situation, in my estimation my gland hadn't developed even as far as some other kids I knew. Frankly, I'm not certain that mine developed until around age thirty-five or so.

To make a long story short, they convinced me to stay in school. In fact, during my senior year I even made the decision to go on to Bible College. I guess I wasn't as ready to work in ministry as I thought I was a year earlier. Maybe that gland did a growth spurt over that year. I don't know.

The point of this story is that we can take a good intention, a desire to help others, or even something that may be widely accepted, and in our own minds, make it God's will. In reality we haven't heard from God on the subject, although He may be preparing us to do the very thing we have desired. The Lord knows that we humans need time to learn, grow, and just plain get ready to do what He's called us to do. Remember that Moses was eighty years old before God actually commissioned him to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. Abraham was one hundred years old before he actually received the son God had promised him, and while David was anointed as King over Israel at an early age, it was many years before he actually sat on the throne.

The young Levite in Judges 17-18 compromised as well. He took a job as the household priest of the man, Micah. Even though they were worshipping idols, he must have reasoned that if he was doing what he had been made of God to do then it was okay. Somehow he'd work the details out later. But the story had tragic consequences. A small group from the tribe of Dan happened on the household of Micah and stole the young Levite away telling him that it was better to be a priest over many than over just one household. That action led to a war wherein many lives were lost.

Don't do as I did in the story I told you about. Don't be like this young Levite who compromised his integrity to get what he wanted. Wait on God. Your heart may ache and yearn to fulfill its desire, and if it is truly God's will, as He promised, He will grant your heart's desire in due time. We must be patient and receive our training, whatever it may be, whether it is formal schooling or going through the University of Life. Your day will come. But don't use God to get what you want. We will ultimately pay for those decisions. Don't compromise what is pure and true. Wait on God and don't let this happen to you.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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