Giving it all to God...

I recently heard a pastor ask the question along the lines of "Why is it that God' can say let there be light and there was light but when God tells us to do something, we don't do it. Why is it that God can tell the sea to be still and it is still, but when God tells us to love our neighbor we don't?" The pastor went on to give the answer to the question being simply stated "God created man with free will." But this statement or question really stuck out to me, actually it slapped me. No... it was more of a punch to the gut mixed in with a roundhouse kick to the face by Chuck Norris. I found the question to be a powerful question. GOD: the creator of all, alpha and omega, everlasting, prince of peace, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, El-Elyon - The Lord Most High, El-Shaddai - The God Who is Sufficient for the Needs of His People, and savior. God, who is all these things and more can do as He please and yet when He tells us. mere humans to do something we fail or even refuse to do it. A great Biblical example of this it Jonah. God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach and tell the people to repent. Instead, Jonah decided he would run from God (don't really know where he thought he could avoid God, or maybe he was just trying to get as far away as possible from Nineveh). Jonah rebelled against the Lord and ran. How often in our own lives do we do this ourselves? God "whispers" to us in our heart to witness or minister to someone, but instead we cast judgement and then turn our backs on them. Another example from scripture comes from author of the Pentateuch and the man God gave the law to, Moses. In Numbers 20, the Israelites are complaining about not having any water and telling Moses that it would have been better if they had remained slaves in Egypt. God tells Moses to take Aaron to speak to the rock and the rock would pour water. Rather than obeying God, Moses struck the rock with the staff. Once again, we see a man of God who witnessed first hand how God dealt with Pharaoh and what happens when one disobeys God, but decided to disobey God anyways. Paul talks about his struggles with obey God saying,

"For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into
bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I
am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I
hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law,
confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it,
but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that
is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is
not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil
that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no
longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the
principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I
joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members." (Romans 7:7-23)

This is such an amazing passage about the problem of sin and the flesh. Paul ends this passage beautifully saying

"Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this
death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one
hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my
flesh the law of sin. " (Romans 7:24-25)

But still (back to my original point), as Christians we follow God, but yet we struggle with obeying Him. We hold on to parts of our lives and tell God he "can't touch that" as if He is a child. It's like my life is a house, and I invite him into my house to live, but make some "rooms" or "closets" off limits. We need to give God our everything. When we refuse to let go of something in our lives, the problem dramatically increases because it turns into a rebellion against God. God sometimes tests us to see (God is omnipotent, I believe He tests us to show us and the others our true heart) if our hearts are completely devoted to Him. God asked Abraham to offer his son Isaac on an alter to God. God did not want Abraham to actually kill his son, but wanted to check Abraham's heart, faith, and devotion to God. If Abraham had refused God's word to him, it would have shown that he had a heart problem and would have missed out on God's blessing:

I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and
have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make
your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the
seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their
enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,
because you have obeyed me." (Genesis 22:15-18)

Here is a challenge for all of you....
Next time (today) when you find something in your life (or you can pray ask God to reveal) that you need to hand over over to God, give it to Him joyfully, knowing that God's will and plan for our lives is so much greater than we can imagine if only we would let go.