God wants you to do nothing

I always depend on God to tell me what to write – every post you have read on this blog, Bethel at Balata, including today’s, has been written according to His instruction, direction, and guidance. You must have noticed that nothing was posted the entire past week. That’s because I received nothing…not one Word, not one idea, not as much as a thought. There are times when God wants you to do nothing. 

This is not the first time that God has had me do absolutely nothing. Not too long ago, I was faced with what would surely be considered dire circumstances, I knew that I had to do something about the situation in which I’d found myself, so like any good Christian, I came up with a plan. And as a good Christian with a brilliant solution to a problem, the first thing that one must do before executing ones well thought out agenda is to go to God in earnest prayer. And that is exactly what I did, I “humbled” myself before my God, thanking Him for the incredibly fool proof plan that I was about to put in place and after I’d poured it all out onto the table, so to speak, I heard, “Do Nothing”. “Huh? Say what?”…”Do Nothing”, same response, same gentle tone. 

“Do nothing? But what about my incredibly brilliant well thought out fool proof solution to my present danger problem? I can’t just sit and do nothing about it, something must be done, Lord!” 

“Yes, something must be done but not by you. I Am, already doing something about your situation, be still…do nothing.”

You see, God is always working. He does not sleep, it’s true. He has already devised solutions to every one of your dire circumstances, all you have to do is co-operate, comply, and if you are required to “stand still and see this great thing, which the LORD will do before your eyes” (1 Samuel 12:16 ERV), then stand still.

Jeremiah 10:23 says, “I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.” (NLT)

And in John 8:28 Jesus said, “…I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me”

Understand that Jesus, though Divine was also human and therefore in complete subjection to the Father, He did nothing on His own initiative, and that’s how God wants us to operate. Not on our own but to totally depend on Him, in complete subjection to His way and will. I know, for some, this is a hard pill to swallow. 

During my time of trial, some of my closest relatives asked me why I was not doing something about my situation, they called me lazy, and stupid, and, reading from the book of Exodus, they said I was stiff-necked, stubborn and arrogant, also proclaimed me a fool for believing nonsense, they accused me of doing my own thing because God would never tell me to do nothing. They quoted from the Bible, “God helps those who help themselves!” – this is not in the Bible, but I didn’t have the heart to interrupt their rant to let them know that. They cited the account of Noah, saying, even Noah built the ark when God told him about the flood…yes, a feat which took more than 50 years mind you and for all those years, Noah was being obedient to God’s instructions, doing nothing on his own initiative, again I did not interrupt the rant.

People who believe they know what’s best for you will not understand and you cannot make them understand, only God can penetrate the closed hearts of those who’ve already come to their own conclusions. But you have to be obedient to Him, no matter what (see Matthew 10:16-42).

We don’t see the entire picture but God does, and believe it or not He does not need our help to carry out His plan for our lives – a Truth that Job painfully had to learn. Oftentimes God allows us to take part, but it’s never that He can do nothing without us, on the contrary, we can do nothing without Him (John 15:5). Ephesians 1:11 clearly states, “…God is the One who makes everything agree with what He decides and wants.” (ICB)

Nowadays, when God tells me to do nothing, that’s exactly what I do because I know that He has His reasons and it’s not necessary for me or any of us to know what those reasons are. If God chooses to let you know then be grateful, if not, still be grateful. The truth of the matter is, we just need to trust God’s way of doing what He does. 

Genuine followers of Jesus follow the examples Jesus Himself set for us – do nothing of your own initiative but do anything and everything that God would have you do. 

So, in the midst of flying objections from every side, do nothing if God wants you to do nothing. 

Amen†

 God wants you to do nothing    Shelley Johnson 08-Nov-2016