Who Is REALLY In Charge?

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Do you ever feel like you are a stubborn child who goes your own way even when you know what Dad has said?  Me too!  I confess that I sometimes listen to my heart, instead of God when it comes to the multitude of daily choices that present themselves to me.  So often I use LOGIC to problem-solve, my best LIFE EXPERIENCE to counsel myself and others, and my EMOTIONS to respond to unpleasant occurrences.  None of these are sinful, but I am.  These 3 (and so many more) can so easily become the flesh gods that I default to.  When I turn to them instead of my Lord, I am choosing self-reliance and rejecting God.  Sounds harsh doesn't it, especially in light of the wisdom of the world that is so firmly and resolutely engrained in us?  The world says that when you are self-reliant you have a greater chance of success.  It tells us that the only one you can depend on is yourself, and that self-reliance is the only true road to freedom.  But God has a little something different to say about self-reliance.

"Ah, stubborn children," declares the LORD, "who carry out a plan, but not Mine, and who make an alliance (agreement), but not of my Spirit . . . who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking from my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! . . . Egypt's help is worthless and empty!"  (Isaiah 30: 1, 2, 7)

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't have any plans to go to Egypt, and I certainly do not trust in Pharaoh, the Old Testament leader of Egypt.  I bet you don't either.  However, I have no problem at all seeing myself in this verse.  I merely need to replace a few words with a few things that are relevant to my life.  I can clearly see that I often "set out to go down to" the path of my own making.  I daily choose to go wherever I want (in planning, in conversations, in counseling, in arguments,  in ministry, in those countless daily decisions) with absolutely no direction from God.  My true heart reveals that I am far more reliant on myself than in my God, making me the lord of my own life so much of the time.  Can you relate to this?

God is speaking to my heart today, revealing to me that every time I act or think in self-reliance, I am rejecting Him and His counsel and guidance.  When I put my trust in anything other than God Himself, then I have left His protective path and shelter for something that is "worthless and empty."
So I must ask myself a couple of questions:  why would I choose to trust in the ways of myself, knowing that I am prone to come up with the wrong answers and conclusions, leading often to a disaster that could have be averted?  What is preventing me from submitting everything to God first?  I can tell you quickly what the correct answer is to both instances.  It is my PRIDE, a very vine-like sin problem that entangles itself in just about everything I do!

So what are we supposed to do, in order for us to move from being stubborn children to obedient and submissive children?  God tells us plainly just a few verses after today's reference.  Isaiah 30:16b says, "In returning (repenting, turning around from our sin) and rest (from being in charge of my life) you shall be saved (from all the poor decision I make and actions I take):  in quietness (listening to Him) and in trust (of His and the plans He spells out to me) shall be your strength."  Did you catch that the wisdom God speaks is completely opposite of the world's?  I don't need to be strong!  I merely need to trust in God's strength in me.  In His strength I can make the right decisions and take the right path through my day.

If you read the entire passage (1-17) you will discover that Israel did not comply with God's word, and He therefore, executed judgment upon them.  Will we comply and submit our every thought, word, and action to the guiding hand of our Dad, or continue in our self-reliant ways?   Our answers to the questions, and our actions that will surely follow (either way), will reveal who is really in charge of our lives.  Who we rely on most is who is in charge!