What Seems Good to Him

                           What Seems Good To Him

I admire God's people who seek to honor God and push forth with their activity without spending a lot of time waiting for God to approve all their plans!

And, of course, I also admire those who slowly and patiently make their plans and await some sort of "go ahead" from God.

Our church as many of both types!

As my mother used to say, "If both of you were alike, one of you wouldn't be necessary!"

When I was a child I assumed she was telling me that all of us fulfill a spot in God's Kingdom - that there is room for all - and that we are all needed.

As I got older and more acquainted with the Scriptures I read about how we all fit together in the Church - we can't all be eyes, nor can we all be ears, or arms....nor would we want to be!

As Paul says,

     Now the body is not made up of one part but of many...
     If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do
     not belong to the body...." It would not for that reason
     cease to be a part of the body....

     If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense
     of hearing be?...But in fact, God has arranged the parts
     in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them
     to be....

It's all in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, and reminds us that we all fill the exact spots Christ has prepared for us.

     We are all God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
     to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us
     to do.  Ephesians 2:10

I guess if God prepared in advance the works we would be doing for Him, then He certainly took in account the speed at which we would be doing them!

Some people seem sometimes to be over-cautious and some seem to be impulsive!

God know us all, and He knows how we will go about doing His works!

So I shouldn't be impatient with those who move ever so slowly and I shouldn't be critical with those who seem to race ahead with great speed and perhaps not wait for that clear pronouncement from God that they were on the right path.

I must say, though, that there are a lot of examples in the Bible of people who set out to do God's work and just ran with it and let God sort it all out!

Like Joab and his brother Abishai. They were fighting two enemies and weren't sure which was stronger and what would happen.

Did they stop and pray about it?

No.  Joab said to his brother,

      If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come
      to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you,
      then I will come to rescue you. Be strong and let us fight
      bravely for our people and the cities of our God.

      The LORD will do what is good in His sight.
                      -- 2 Samuel  10:12

And when David was fleeing from the rebellious army led by his son, he had a make a decision about the precious Ark of the Covenant.

He said to the priest, Zadok:

     Take the Ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in
     the LORD's eyes, He will bring me back and let me see
     it and His dwelling place again. But if He says, "I am not
     pleased with you," then I am ready'. Let Him do to me
     whatever seems good to Him.  -- 2 Samuel 15:26

Perhaps the most encouraging of all, is Solomon's words when the Ark was brought into the new Temple:

     My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for
     the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. But the LORD
     said to my father David, "Because it was in your heart
     to build a temple for My Name, you did well to have this
     in your heart. Nevertheless you are not the one to build
     the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood--
     he is the one who will build the temple for  my Name."           
                                     -- 1 Kings 8:18-19

So David dreamed of building a fabulous temple for God. He planned it and designed it and acquired great treasures for it.

He wanted to build God a House, but God said, "No, my child, I am going to build YOU a House - the House of David, whose dynasty will last forever - under the eternal rule of One of your descendants."

But what pleases me is that God honored David's
good intention - "you did well to have this in your heart," He said.

Even though God did not ask him to build the temple, even though David just moved ahead with all the plans without God's direction, God still honored what was in his heart.

What I learn here is that godly ideas, plans, and efforts are a delight to God even when His sovereign plans do not allow their completion.

We believers must pursue actions that glorify God and then leave the results and outcome to Him.

We act and then "let Him do what seems good to Him."