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Helping God

How many of you are guilty of it? It’s oftentimes women who have a harder time helping God than men, but men do it too. Sometimes our helping God is
evidence of a lack of faith in Him.

My friend Jennifer shared this story. She noticed that a dove had made a nest right at the place where two of the eaves came together near her front porch. She was very excited for this new mother bird as her deepest longing is to become a mother herself. God had a message for her through the plight of this mother dove. Jennifer could understand why the mother chose to nest right there: it was high and difficult to reach for predators; it was shielded from the sun. But it was, after all, in the gutter. The fact that the mother dove had chosen to build her nest in the gutter created concern to Jennifer.

One morning at 5 a.m. Jennifer awoke to a pounding Texas thunderstorm. Instead of rolling over and trying to go back to sleep, her instant thought was concern for the mother bird in the rain gutter. She stormed out of her bed and ran to the front door, not taking time to consider what she might be able to do in the case that the nest had been flushed out. When she opened the door, she was greeted by a pair of mother bird eyes gazing down at her wondering what in the world all the commotion was about. The nest was safe and dry. In the days that followed Jennifer resisted the urge to put food out and to move the birdbath to the front yard. She simply entrusted this mother bird and her young completely into the hands of God. Just this week not one but two baby doves were hatched. It was a lesson for Jennifer about trusting in God for the future of her own baby that she longs for.

It is also a lesson for me. How many times do I try to help God out and in the meantime hinder His plans? It is very tempting to foster my prayers for someone with extra conniving to make things work out the way I want them to. It is very difficult to simply stand with someone in her pain and be confident that God will bring her through. I'm not saying that God doesn't use us in one another’s lives to carry out His plan. I am saying that we need to have God confidence when we care for and pray for our fellow Christians. We need to make sure that our efforts for reaching out are exactly what God wants us to do in a situation. I love the way Paul described King David in Acts 13:36: For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. We need to be so connected to God that we are sure we are serving God’s purpose in the lives of others. We need to believe that a friend’s impossible situation is not impossible to God. It is more important to stand by our friends in prayer than anything else we can do or say.

Do you know that your real service to God is the power of prayer? Is your service to God trying to help God out because He may not have the time or interest to invest in your friend, or is it God-led? I pray that you will grow in God confidence and realize that you are never helping God out but are regularly doing the things He tells you to do.

 

 

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