Wednesday, October 28, 2009

What do you do when God's Version of Happiness is Not Your Own?

After all is said and done, we are only human. Despite being inbued with the Holy Spirit, we still at times find it difficult to combat feelings of despair. For many, the loneliest times are those spent seeking the strength to do what God has willed us to do when we don't want to do it.

Picture this scenario: For years, you have prayed for direction. Maybe you are in a job that you hate and you continue to pray for an escape hatch. Perhaps you have sought assistance from friends and family, read your Bible looking for an explanation, prayed seeking a specific answer.

Finally, God speaks. The problem is that the answer is not the answer that you sought.

Now what?!

How do you find happiness in doing HIS WILL when you don't want to do HIS WILL? Where is the joy? How can you gather the strength to DO that which you hate?

Let's look at the story of Jonah- a classic story of what happens when we opt not to do God's will.

JONAH 1:1-17 (International Version)
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."

3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."

7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"

9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."

10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)

11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"

12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."

13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.


If God has been kind enough to reveal His WILL to you, don't be like Jonah. Don't run from His Will. Don't attempt to reason with God. Don't try to talk HIM out of his plan for you. Instead rise up boldly and ask God to help you to do that thing which he commands you to do.

God is Good. He will not ask you do do something that you can not do. Once you surrender your will to His Will, he will give you the power to do His Will.

Philippians 2:13 (King James Version)

For It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

In other words:

Philippians 2:12-13 (New International Version)
12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Sometimes FEAR is the best motivator. Do what God asks you to do. The alternative is death. His Will is perfect. It will lead to your happiness. He promised, darling.

Jonah remembered this and prayed even while in the belly of the fish:

"When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.

8 "Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the LORD."

10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.