Following God (Part Two)

Clearly, following God is not something we naturally do. We teach children to be good, not bad. Left to ourselves we go astray like sheep. Left to our own devices we look only to our own interests. Not all our intentions are only evil all the time, but that bent towards doing the wrong thing so easily dominates, whether we want to be good or not. God did the hard work. While we were His enemies, Christ died for us. While we scoffed at Him on the cross, Christ prayed, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” We pursued Him to death and He allowed Himself to be led to the slaughter. We didn’t love God. But He loved us. It’s no wonder we find it hard to obey God sometimes. Our very being naturally rebels at the thought. But He has placed His Holy Spirit in the believer to give us a desire to do it. With Him we have a fighting chance.

“When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, He abides with us still,

And with all who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.

Or we'll walk by His side in the way.

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;

Never fear, only trust and obey.”

Psalm 33 places the spotlight on God and shows us why He is worth following.

The words of the Lord are true,

   and all his works are dependable.

The Lord loves what is righteous and just;

   his constant love fills the earth.

The Lord created the heavens by his command,

   the sun, moon, and stars by his spoken word.

Psalms 33:4‭-‬6

His word is upright. His works are faithful. He is a God who can be trusted. He won’t change His mind every five minutes or tell us one thing but do another. His character and His commands are consistent. He is reliable. He never changes. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. God loves righteousness and justice. His goodness is there for all to see in the world He has created. God is on the side of right. He wants fairness in its fullest sense to prevail. He wants humanity to do what is good and to love one another. The fault lies with us that we don’t always do it. He is Creator of all. How can the creature be so obnoxious and ungrateful to God? Humanity, in effect, sticks its middle finger in the air and shouts “up yours! I’m the master of my fate! I can do anything I want. It’s my body! It’s my life! Butt out!” When we look at the character of God and the character of man, the contrast should be clear. Is it any wonder that following God can be hard, when everything in us propels us to do a Jonah and run away in the other direction? And yet, with God’s Holy Spirit in us, it is possible. We have been rescued from this body of death.

For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death. Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants. To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace. And so people become enemies of God when they are controlled by their human nature; for they do not obey God's law, and in fact they cannot obey it. Those who obey their human nature cannot please God. But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to—if, in fact, God's Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin. If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you.

Romans 8:2‭, ‬5‭-‬11

I think a good principle for following the Lord is to do it because it is the right thing to do - because God is worth following for His own sake. If we want to follow Him because of what we can get out of Him, I think we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. Not because we can’t trust Him to keep His promises, but because if He doesn’t do what we want Him to do when we want Him to do it, then we’ll get down and angry and bitter. To love Him for His own sake is the way to go. Seek first His kingdom, then all other things will be given us. He isn’t going to hold anything back. “If God is for us, who can be against us?  Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son—will he not also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32)

I want to close with some more words from Psalm 33, which ends with a prayer.

The Lord watches over those who obey him,

   those who trust in his constant love.

He saves them from death;

   he keeps them alive in times of famine.

We put our hope in the Lord;

   he is our protector and our help.

We are glad because of him;

   we trust in his holy name.

May your constant love be with us, Lord,

   as we put our hope in you.

Psalms 33:18‭-‬22