All tagged guidance

We seek out our salvation but not always in the way we really should. Too often we read scripture and confuse doing things ourselves with having just asked the Lord to lead us. Does this sound like you? Well for the longest time it certainly sounded like me. I would pray for forgiveness, redemption, provision, healing, and so many other things, but rather than trusting in God to take charge of what I had just asked of Him I would act as though I had merely invited Him to watch over me as I did it all myself. I considered the fear and trembling of seeking my salvation to mean that I should be afraid that I might fail, but that is not what this passage means at all. The very next verse tells us something quite different; listen: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

We consider ourselves to be wise, and able to maneuver, and survive in the world, by our own abilities, yet here we are again kneeling before God, and praying pitifully for His guidance, salvation, provision, and mercy. How many times must we go on trying to fend for ourselves, only to end up in a mess again, before we will seek the Lord’s direction, and ask that He be first in our lives? We are so self-assured that we develop our own plans and strike off to accomplish them with at most a quick prayer, never asking, only telling, God where we are going.