Obeying God's Revelation is the Key - Genesis 18-19 and Matthew 6:1-18
Most people, even believers, want to live their lives by setting their own goals and by creating their own vision. They even use Proverbs 29:18 to support their practice when that verse is talking about having God's revelation, not our own vision. Instead, we should live by receiving God's revelation of His will to us and obeying that plan. His plans are the only ones that will succeed anyway. The plans of man always come to nothing in the end.
Genesis 18 and 19 are great examples of this truth. The Lord, Himself, and 2 angels come to meet with Abraham and Sarah on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah. They reveal God's will to them in a couple of ways. They tell them that Sarah will have a son at that time the following year. This time Sarah laughs, and she is corrected. Why? It is important for her to accept this revelation of God's will and to prepare for it. Then, the Lord reveals the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham. They have a discussion about the righteous being destroyed with the wicked, but Abraham does accept God's revelation. Therefore, God is able to bless Abraham and Sarah.
However, in chapter 19 Lot and his family do not fare as well. The angels tell them to flee before the city is destroyed, and they linger. They do not want to follow God's will. The son-in-laws won't listen at all, so they are left behind and killed. Lot's wife looks back, because she is not wanting to accept God's revelation, and she becomes a pillar of salt. Finally, his daughters devise their own plan to save the family, which is totally contrary to God's will. Why? They were not living by God's revelation, but their own ideas. That is always wrong. It is not for us to plan our own way, but to follow God's way.
In Matthew 6:1-18 we see several very practical examples. When you give to the needy, do you do it in secret? That is what God says to do. When you pray do you follow His outline in the model prayer or your own? Of course, we should follow His revelation of how to pray. When you fast, do you act like you are not fasting? Maybe, you don't even fast at all, because it doesn't fit your idea of what you should do. However, it is God's way, which He has revealed to us, so we should obey His revelation on fasting, too. See what I mean? The Christian life is living by God's revelation of His will to us. That is the key. It is not to think up our own vision.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Genesis 20-22 and Matthew 6:19-34.
Genesis 18 and 19 are great examples of this truth. The Lord, Himself, and 2 angels come to meet with Abraham and Sarah on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah. They reveal God's will to them in a couple of ways. They tell them that Sarah will have a son at that time the following year. This time Sarah laughs, and she is corrected. Why? It is important for her to accept this revelation of God's will and to prepare for it. Then, the Lord reveals the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham. They have a discussion about the righteous being destroyed with the wicked, but Abraham does accept God's revelation. Therefore, God is able to bless Abraham and Sarah.
However, in chapter 19 Lot and his family do not fare as well. The angels tell them to flee before the city is destroyed, and they linger. They do not want to follow God's will. The son-in-laws won't listen at all, so they are left behind and killed. Lot's wife looks back, because she is not wanting to accept God's revelation, and she becomes a pillar of salt. Finally, his daughters devise their own plan to save the family, which is totally contrary to God's will. Why? They were not living by God's revelation, but their own ideas. That is always wrong. It is not for us to plan our own way, but to follow God's way.
In Matthew 6:1-18 we see several very practical examples. When you give to the needy, do you do it in secret? That is what God says to do. When you pray do you follow His outline in the model prayer or your own? Of course, we should follow His revelation of how to pray. When you fast, do you act like you are not fasting? Maybe, you don't even fast at all, because it doesn't fit your idea of what you should do. However, it is God's way, which He has revealed to us, so we should obey His revelation on fasting, too. See what I mean? The Christian life is living by God's revelation of His will to us. That is the key. It is not to think up our own vision.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Genesis 20-22 and Matthew 6:19-34.