Hands Off

HANDS OFF!

 

This article was prompted by the devotional in ODB today by Joe Stowell. He used Psalm 46 as his scriptural basis, (Psalm 46:10) "Be still and know that I am God". Joe says the word "Be still" in the Hebrew language means to "cease striving", which reminds me of a statement by Bob Mumford in his teaching in Agape Road. Bob claims that "striving" is the opposite of "abiding", which Jesus used in (John 15:1-17) to tell us what we must do in order to produce much fruit for the Kingdom of God. Joe used the example of "bobbing for apples", which I'm sure that most of us older folks have done. Your hands are tied behind your back, and you are expected to pick up an apple floating in a container filled with water. For anyone who has never tried it, let me tell you it's harder than you might think! We use our hands for so many different things, that you can't do if they are tied behind your back. Those of us who have 2 healthy hands take them for granted, and never consider what it be like to not have them.

 

Our natural tendency is to keep our "hands on" any given situation that might come up, so me can control the outcome to our advantage. But the scriptures tell us to do the opposite, and to take our "Hand Off" the situation and trust the outcome to God. This can make us feel very vulnerable, unless of course we believe verse 1 of this Psalm "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble", or verse 7 which assures us "The Lord of heaven's armies is here among us, The God of Israel is our fortress". We can always depend on our faithful God who declares in (Heb 13:5-6) "Don't love money, be satisfied with what you have. For God said I will never leave you. I will never abandon you. So you can say with confidence the Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear, what can mere people do to me?" Joe finishes up with "In the midst of trouble, we can rest in God's care". Then he prays "Lord, forgive me for always wanting to manage my own affairs. Teach me to trust in Your wise and timely intervention and to keep my hands out of Your way". I believe this to be good advice for all of us to tend to think our way is the best way to handle certain situations, until we enquire of the Lord for His advice. We all have a "Flesh Nature" even after we are "born again" and realize that our old sinful nature that we inherited from our original parents Adam and Eve died with Jesus on the cross. Paul tells us how to deal with this flesh nature in (Gal 5:16-21)!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                            03/11/14