Keeping in Step
Ecclesiastes 7:13 (New Living Translation 1996) – “Notice the way God does things; then fall
into line. Don’t fight the ways of God, for who can straighten out what he has
made crooked.”
This is what we are called to do, God never promised us
an easy life, in fact he promised just the opposite Jn 16:33 – “In this world you will have trouble. But
take heart I have overcome the world.” However if we grasp the truth of
this passage in Ecclesiastes it will make our journey through life a lot less fraught
with toil and disappointment.
Time and again Jesus said in his teachings in the Gospels
“I only do what I see my Father doing”
We need to develop such a relationship with God that we can see where he is
working and moving and put our effort into that.
In our own lives we can’t win against God, we can fight against
him all we like but he is sovereign and ultimately God will win.
God will not
always do things the way we except either and sometimes he may want to take us
the long way round but, whatever God does will always be for a purpose perhaps
to teach us something or develop something in our character. But whatever the
reason we need to see where he is walking and place our feet firmly in his
footsteps.
Let me give another example; in John
5:1-15 we read the story of the healing of the man at the pool in
Jerusalem, in this story there were a great many sick and dying people that
Jesus could have helped but he went up to one man in that vast crowd of need
and healed him. Why just the one, could he not have prayed for all the others as
well? I believe that because of the close relationship he had with his Father
he saw where God wanted to work and threw himself into it.
This was why Jesus saw so much success in his life
because he knew where and when God wanted to work and got behind it. He noticed
the way God did things and fell into line, we need to develop this trait in our
own lives too then we will truly be able to say as Paul did: “My message and my
preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of
the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human
wisdom, but on God’s power.” 1 Corinthians 2:4-5
Notice what God is doing, where he is
doing it and who he is doing it in and get stuck in!!
