Several years ago, I was faced with what would surely be considered dire circumstances. I knew 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 I thought that I must do before
executing my well-thought-out agenda was to go to the Lord in prayer to present
my plan to Him.
I “humbled” myself before my God, thanking
Him for the incredibly fool-proof plan that I was about to execute to lift
myself out of the miry clay and place my feet on solid ground.
What a great solution I’d devised and after
I’d poured it all out onto the table, so to speak, I heard, “Do Nothing”
I countered,
“Huh? Say what?”
”Do Nothing”, same response, same gentle
tone.
I protested,
“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!”
His response,
“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, but I say these things as
the Father instructed Me. (NASB)
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.
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.
It was during that time that I recognized
that 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 (read 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)
Since then, 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.
Beloved, 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†
Shelley Johnson “God wants you to do nothing” © 2016 revisited November 18, 2025
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