Changes and Choices

​Recognizing what we can change and what we cannot change is often a real struggle.
I am a fixer – wanting everyone and everything to be okay, but as we all know that will never happen this side of heaven.

Trying to control life, people, and circumstances can find us fretting, overwhelmed, discouraged, and even hurt. Control drains our energy, which causes our minds to go to places God never intended. Those strongholds of needing to fix or control only become bigger and bigger if not dealt with.
To control something is to have power to influence or direct one’s behavior or the course of events. It is about restriction of an activity or power to restrain and regulate!
The only one I know who has that kind of power is God. In the Westminster Confession there is a statement that sums up God’s sovereignty and control:
“God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will freely and immutably (that is without possibility of changing it) ordain whatsoever comes to pass.”
R. C. Sproul put it this way:
“Understand that when we talk about God ordaining things, there are different ways God ordains things to come to pass. This doesn’t necessarily mean that God jumps down onto the planet and makes something happen through direct and immediate personal involvement on His part. What it means is that God is sovereign over anything that happens. Nothing in this world can happen apart from His divine sovereignty.”
God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present.
“His sovereignty is in creation, providence, redemption, and judgment. Nothing happens without God willing it to happen, and willing it to happen before it happens. To say that God is sovereign is to express His almightiness in every area.” (Derek Thomas)
“If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Tim. 2:11-13)
As God’s created beings we have been given the power to choose right from wrong, eternal life or eternal death. This freedom comes from God’s desire for us to voluntarily choose Him. Why did God do this? He longed for our fellowship and a relationship with His created ones.
In Genesis 2:16 God tells Adam and Eve, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” God gave Adam and Eve the freedom to choose. The two trees provided an exercise in choice and free will – to obey or not to obey.
Just like Adam and Eve and every man since creation, we have been given a choice – to choose good or evil, sin or righteousness, God or Satan. Most assuredly our willful choices shape our future and destiny. We can choose to be obedient to God and His Word, or we can be disobedient. Even though Satan deceived Adam, Adam made the choice to be disobedient to God. When we exercise our free will and choices are made, we better make sure they are aligned with God’s Word and His sovereignty.
Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man (Jesus), many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18-19)
Our choices can lead us to God or away from Him, and those choices affect not only our lives but also all those around us!
Lesson upon lesson is given to us in God’s Word of men and women who took things into their own hands – men and women who left God out of their daily personal decisions, homes, and families. They thought they had the answers to solving life’s problems.
One such person in the Bible was King Nebuchadnezzar. He was considered one of the greatest Babylonian kings! With this title came pride and control. God, however, had some hard truths to teach Nebuchadnezzar. The first was that the God of Israel was different from the handmade gods that Nebuchadnezzar was worshipping. Nebuchadnezzar was to find out firsthand that the one true God who created him would have the last word in his life.
God allowed three young Jewish leaders to become servants to Nebuchadnezzar. One of those leaders was Daniel. God used his life to change a king. What set Daniel apart was his faith in his God and creator. He was a man of prayer and lived his life with quiet conviction. He refused to give up his convictions, and daily applied God’s will to his own life. We find the secret to Daniel’s life in Daniel 2:19 where we find him praying:
“Praise be to the name of God forever and ever;
Wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons;
He sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
He knows what lies in darkness,
And light dwells with him.
I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers:
You have given me wisdom and power,
You have made known to me what we asked of you,
You have made known to us the dream of the king.”
Daniel knew he could not change Nebuchadnezzar; only God could do that. Nebuchadnezzar was given warning after warning from Daniel, but his pride kept him from listening. Therefore, God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to go through seven years of insanity before restoring him. God used hard things to show Nebuchadnezzar who was really in control.
Although we might like to think we are in control, the bottom line is that we are not! God revealed a lot of things to Daniel through visions, but the end outcome and results were God’s. His faith and trust in his God carried him through. Daniel chose to obey and trust God, and because of that trust and obedience, the challenges Daniel met in his life were covered by God’s grace and mercy. Trusting God for all the outcomes in our lives and those around us is not easy. It is a daily surrender to the sovereignty of God our creator.
“For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17)
“This one thing I know for sure.
More true than any previous Law,
My God is the first and last authority,
My God is the very being of sovereignty.
When times are good,
My God is sovereign,
When things be as they should,
My God is sovereign.
When the world falls into place,
No need of a journey retrace,
No thing misplaced,
When I am able to feel His embrace
My God is sovereign.
Now don’t misunderstand – I know this is a claim,
And I also know it is easy to say God is sovereign
When there is no rain,
When the Holy Spirit is aflame – and there is no pain.
But what about when times are rough?
That is when I truly know He can’t be undone.
My God is sovereign.
When I am crushed and full of despair.
My God is sovereign.
When the world of lies comes crashing in,
When I am reminded of my forgiven sin,
Or find myself uncomfortable in my own skin,
And pain erupts from deep within,
My God is sovereign.
He is the supreme ruler, and He knows best,
How thankful I am that He doesn’t operate at my behest.
But instead reminds me ‘You are blessed.
When you confessed, I became Lord of your life –
No longer a guest.
Now my Spirit makes its home in you – be at rest.
Don’t live stressed, depressed, and repressed –
I am in control.
Jesus paid the toll
So that you could once again come to Me,
No longer hidden behind humanity’s fateful tree.
For I am in you, and you are in me.’
No greater truth can be made known,
No greater faith can be shown
Than to declare out loud and truly begin
To believe and accept that your God is sovereign.”
By GODSHANDSREACHING
We cannot see the future, only God can!
We cannot always know the whys, but God does!
Father God, help us to relinquish the control and choices of our lives to you each and every day. Knowing you are all knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present. Amen.