Jesus... it's Your turn for a test!

This post will be short and sweet and to the point. I don’t have time to talk as much as I’d like ((*smile*)). I’ve got to be out of here in a minute. Ugh!

I was reading 1 Corinthians 10 for a totally different reason. The 9th scripture (not the one I was heading toward) popped out at me. Not because of the first version I’d read it in. Nor the second. Not even the third. But it was the fourth’s version that caught my attention. I loved how The Message dumbed it down (so to speak) and made it so plain and so simple.

The NIV (speaking of the Israelites in the desert) says, “We should not test the Lord, as some of them did…”

The AMP, “We should not tempt the Lord [try His patience, become a trial to Him, critically appraise Him, and exploit His goodness] as some of them did…”

The KJV, “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted…”

But… The Msg verbalized it this way, “We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving Him…”

Wow! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving Him. Hmmm… it’s something to think about. Something to ponder….

When I pray to Him and ask Him things in my prayers… and then when I get disappointed and mad at Him because He’s not done what I’ve told Him…. Woe, it’s then that I’ve got it backward. It’s then that I’m praying “my will” and NOT His. And it’s then that I’m thinking that I know best, but that even if I don’t I want it anyway; so I’m mad at Him for not doing it or giving it in the way that I want it and in the time frame of my planning.

I am to serve Him. He’s not to serve me. I am to seek His face and His will in my prayers (as Jesus did), not pray to Him as a way of my calling Him up to place my order, telling Him exactly what I want and when I’d like it delivered.

We whine. And we wail. And we throw fits. We complain to each other. We cry like a baby before Him…… perhaps saying “Your will, not mine,” yet not meaning it. Or thinking we “trust Him,” but deep down not believing it. We try to manipulate, bargain, when only He knows best and not me.

We, like the Israelites, don't trust Him for food or for water when He's fed us all these years through the deserts before now. We often don't believe Him to do the next miracle, when He's parted the seas and drowned the enemies chasing us. Where is our faith? Why do we lack? We bow down to false gods and idols, serving them, feeding them, sacrificing to them, when they only enslave us to bondage instead of set free.

We writhe in our trials as if He hasn't warned us that we'd have them. We can't understand our "troubles" when He's said it's part of this world that we live in. We forget that He's overcome... and come to set us free. He tells us that when we cry He sends forth His word to heal us... and yet, when we receive His word (telling us what to do) we fail to do what it says, because we want an instand miraculous healing without any effort on my part.

I want to work for God! I want to live serving Him... not live trying to make Him serve me! He lives to lead us, to guide us, to instruct us, to protect us, to provide for us, to heal us, to turn our filty rags into righteousness. So, knowing all of that, can't I trust Him? He knows what fulfills us, satisfies us. He knows our needs. He knows what we were created and put here for. He knows the plans and purpose He has for us... which is the only thing that will fulfill us in the end. So, knowing that, can't I trust Him?

God.. after all You've done for me... may I live to serve You until You call me Home. I love You. I am so in awe of You. You are my constant thoughts and thinking. I thank You! May I honor You with Your name! May I live to make You renown! May I spent my life as a witness to others of what my Savior has saved me from and the Life You came to give me! May I live it to the fullest. And when my life is done, may my life not be remembered, but the only the Jesus that lived inside me! What an honor to carry You. May I do it to Your Glory! Oh... may I do it to Your Glory alone! You, LORD! You... and not me!