1 John 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
My wife tells a story about an interesting experience she had as a new believer. She was still single at the time and wasn’t happy with her living situation. She was renting a room from a family in her congregation and wanted to get out and rent her own apartment. The only problem was that she was rebelling against a feeling she had that God wanted her to stay there for a season, to get grounded in the Lord and to be a blessing to this family. Still, she convinced herself that getting her own apartment would be a good thing.
After much searching, she found what she was looking for. Although it needed some work and the rent was rather high, she managed to bargain her way into fixing up the place in lieu of three months rent.
Six weeks went by and all the work was done. New tiling, carpeting, painting, curtains, it looked just fabulous and it was time to move in. As she finished unpacking and putting on all the finishing touches, she sat down and marveled at all her hard work. Yet she still battled this little still small voice saying “This is not My will.”
The next day she went to work. About midday, Rivka received a phone call from her new next door neighbor. “Water is gushing out of your front door,” she said, “You might want to get over here and check it out.” A sick feeling arose from the pit of her stomach as she picked up her things and dashed out the office door.
Sadly, it was true. The whole apartment had been flooded by a random break in the pipes outside of her basement apartment and much of her hard work and some of her belongings were damaged. When the landlords didn’t even want to pay for the clean up, Rivka decided to take them to small claims court for the cost of her labor and damages (not to mention the three months of rent she never received). Without any explanation, the judge ruled in favor of the landlords. Even more ridiculous was that they didn’t even show up that day!
Truly, Riv learned the hard way that the bad feeling she had throughout this whole ordeal was the conviction of the Holy Spirit urging her to be obedient. She would be very careful not ignore that leading again.
Are you trying to get your way with the Lord today? Take this as a warning!
He will have His way one way or another. Give Him your heart again today. He has such great things planned — and there’s so much work to be done!
Amen