Battle for control!
Who is really in control?
You, or the God who formed the universe, who also created and breathed life into you?
My husband used to always say, “You have choices. You may not like your choices, but you have choices.” That is so true. You may not like your choices but you have them and often will choose poorly. This happens when you choose to ignore the suggestion made by the Holy Spirit because you think you know what is best for yourself. That’s fine, God gave you choices. Here’s the kicker though, with choices come consequences. Good choices come with good consequences; bad choices come with bad consequences. Consequences that will hopefully keep you from repeating the poor choice. Will you repeat them anyway? Yes, for many reasons; because it’s easier, or it feels better, or maybe God will let is slide this time, or maybe God will like your idea better, or it’s simply what the crowd is doing or encouraging you to do.
What is the cost of choosing to maintain control?
Ignoring God comes with consequences
Are you stressed? Tired of the “rat race” on the hamster wheel that goes nowhere? Are you thinking that there has to be more to life than “this?” Have your stresses been born from ignoring God’s guidance and trying to control everything in your life? Find hope today in turning to Jesus where you find there is peace, purpose, and a plan for your life that is “not to hard.” Let’s look to His promises for direction and allow His Word to tell the story.
“He once told this people, “It’s time to rest, the exhausted can rest, now you can relax”—but they wouldn’t listen.” Isaiah 28:12
“Here is what Adonai says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask about the ancient paths, ‘Which one is the good way?’ Take it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not take it.‘” Jeremiah 6:16
The Righteous Shall Live by Faith
“Then the LORD said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.
“Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. Wealth is treacherous, and the arrogant are never at rest. They open their mouths as wide as the grave, and like death, they are never satisfied. In their greed they have gathered up many nations and swallowed many peoples.” Habakkuk 2:2-5
“Oh, how I wish their hearts would stay like this always, that they would fear me and obey all my commands; so that it would go well with them and their children forever.” Deuteronomy 5:29
“The LORD your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.” The Choice of Life and Death…
“This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach.” Deuteronomy 30:10-11
What are your choices?
Our Heavenly Father, YHWH, Adonai – our God, who gave us breath, loves us and wants so badly for us to obey His commands and follow His ways. Out of His abundant love for us He gives us a choice to choose to follow Him. He wants us to choose Him; He will not force us to follow Him.
When we try to control our situations while ignoring the Holy Spirits guidance and nudges, and work hard to control how much we will allow Him to help us, we are ultimately choosing everything else over Him. We are telling Him by our actions that we are choosing ourselves and what we want or think is best for us, rather than trusting Him to care for us. How could we possibly know what is best for us? Our Heavenly Father who created us knows what we need because only He can see all, from creation to eternity. When we work tirelessly to maintain control of our lives, we are telling God we don’t choose Him, that we know more than Him.
We are but a speck of dust in the universe; a spec of dust full of ignorant pride in an infinitesimal lifespan. We are not God, we can’t see the bigger picture, we can’t see the future. For those who try to see the future, God has very specific messages for you in His Word. Here’s just one command:
“Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am Adonai your God.” Leviticus 19:31
“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”
“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams, because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the LORD.”
“This is what the LORD says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the LORD.“
“I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.” Jeremiah 29:4-15
For those who choose to “maintain control”
“Here comes the Day of Adonai, full of cruelty, rage and hot fury, to desolate the earth and destroy the sinners in it. For the stars, the constellations in the sky, will no longer give their light; the sun will be dark when it rises; and the moon will no longer shine.” Isaiah 13:9-10 (God will put an end to astrology)
“The wicked will be cut off from the land, the unfaithful rooted out of it.” Proverbs 2:22
“You were at ease in your wickedness, you thought, “No one sees me.” Your “wisdom” and “knowledge” perverted you, as you thought to yourself, “I am important, and no one else.” Yet disaster will befall you, and you won’t know how to charm it away; calamity will come upon you, and you won’t be able to turn it aside; ruin will overcome you, suddenly, before you know it.”
“So for now, keep on with your powerful spells and your many occult practices; from childhood you have been working at them; maybe they will do you some good, maybe you will inspire terror! You are worn out with all your consultations—so let the astrologers and stargazers, the monthly horoscope-makers, come forward now and save you from the things that will come upon you! Look, they will be like straw! The fire will consume them. They will not save even themselves from the power of the flame. It will not be coals for warming oneself, not a fire to sit beside! So much for your wizards, with whom you have worked all your life! Each will wander off in his own direction, and nobody will save you.” Isaiah 47:10-15
“Here is what Adonai says: “A people is coming from the land of the north, a great nation will be aroused from the ends of the earth. They will take hold of bow and spear; they are cruel; they have no compassion: their noise as they ride on horses is like the roaring sea; and they are equipped for battle against you, daughter of Tziyon.” Jeremiah 6:22-23
“Come out, my people, flee from Babylon. Save yourselves! Run from the LORD’s fierce anger. But do not panic; don’t be afraid when you hear the first rumor of approaching forces. For rumors will keep coming year by year. Violence will erupt in the land as the leaders fight against each other. For the time is surely coming when I will punish this great city and all her idols. Her whole land will be disgraced, and her dead will lie in the streets. Then the heavens and earth will rejoice, for out of the north will come destroying armies against Babylon,” says the LORD.” Jeremiah 51:45-48
“The LORD is a jealous God, filled with vengeance and rage. He takes revenge on all who oppose him and continues to rage against his enemies!” “Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence.” Nahum 1:2,6
“The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says, “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all.” Malachi 4:1
“Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day—death and mourning and famine. She will be completely consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.” Revelation 18:8
Adonai has given orders to the vultures
“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, shouting to the vultures flying high in the sky: “Come! Gather together for the great banquet God has prepared. Come and eat the flesh of kings, generals, and strong warriors; of horses and their riders; and of all humanity, both free and slave, small and great.”
“Then I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Their entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the white horse. And the vultures all gorged themselves on the dead bodies.” Revelation 19:17-21
God’s judgment plan
“I, the LORD, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty. I will make people scarcer than gold—more rare than the fine gold of Ophir. For I will shake the heavens. The earth will move from its place when the LORD of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath in the day of his fierce anger.”
“Everyone in Babylon will run about like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd. They will try to find their own people and flee to their own land. Anyone who is captured will be cut down—run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped.”
“Look, I will stir up the Medes against Babylon. They cannot be tempted by silver or bribed with gold. The attacking armies will shoot down the young men with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for children.” Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the flower of Chaldean pride, will be devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them. Babylon will never be inhabited again. It will remain empty for generation after generation. Nomads will refuse to camp there, and shepherds will not bed down their sheep. Desert animals will move into the ruined city, and the houses will be haunted by howling creatures. Owls will live among the ruins, and wild goats will go there to dance. Hyenas will howl in its fortresses, and jackals will make dens in its luxurious palaces.”
“Babylon’s days are numbered; its time of destruction will soon arrive.” Isaiah 13:11-20
“The earth mourns and dries up, and the land wastes away and withers. Even the greatest people on earth waste away. The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted God’s instructions, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse consumes the earth. Its people must pay the price for their sin. They are destroyed by fire, and only a few are left alive.” Isaiah 24:4-6
God shows who is in control
“Human pride will be humbled, and human arrogance will be brought down. Only the LORD will be exalted on that day of judgment.” Humanity will be destroyed, and people brought down; even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation.” Isaiah 2:17, 5:15
“See, I am your enemy, you arrogant people,” says the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “Your day of reckoning has arrived—the day when I will punish you. O land of arrogance, you will stumble and fall, and no one will raise you up. For I will light a fire in the cities of Babylon that will burn up everything around them.” Jeremiah 50:31-32
“For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!” Daniel 5:23
“Adonai, Lord of Hosts has sworn, “Just as I thought it, it will occur; just as I planned it, so it will be.” Isaiah 14:24
“I will break Ashur in my land, I will trample him down on my mountains. Then his yoke will fall off them, his burden be removed from their shoulders.” This is the program planned for all the earth, this is the hand stretched out over all the nations. “Adonai-Lord of Hosts has made his decision. Who is there that can stop him? He has stretched out his hand. Who can turn it back?” Isaiah 14:25-27
Reality check
This is a harsh reality, but reality nonetheless. Reality that no one wants to know or believe. Ignoring it does not make it less true. Those who don’t turn from their sinful ways will pay the consequences. You have been warned by Adonai. The warning is truth in God’s Word that He breathed into His Holy Bible many years ago to alert you of what is to come. He loves you. He wants you to choose to love and obey Him wholeheartedly and spend eternity with Him.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed.” John 3:16
”Say to them, ‘As I live,’ swears Adonai Elohim, ‘I take no pleasure in having the wicked person die, but in having the wicked person turn from his way and live. So repent! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, house of Isra’el?‘” Ezekiel 33:11
The judgment He speaks of is for those who DON’T love Him. Why would anyone expect Him to bless them if they don’t love and obey Him? Choose today who you will serve.
“So fear the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD alone. But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14-15
Choose today to allow Adonai to have full control of your life. Go all in with Him, love Him, obey His commands, and follow His ways. Those who choose Him will not experience the judgment that is surely coming for those who don’t choose Him.
Prayer
Thank you, Father, for loving me. Thank you for not giving up on me when I’ve been stubborn and tried to control everything in my life. Thank you for forgiving me for not trusting You. Thank you for showing me today that trying to maintain control in my life is fruitless and only causes me more stress and pain. Thank you for opening my eyes and ears and teaching me Your Truth in your Holy Word from cover to cover. Thank you for showing me how to rest in your arms while you care for me and handle all the details in my life.
Amen