by David Brenneman
Tempted by Shortcuts
"Then Abishai said to David, "Today God has handed your enemy over to you. Let me thrust the spear through him into the ground just once. I won't have to strike him twice!" 1 Samuel 26:8
You will sometimes be tempted to take shortcuts to your destinations in life. David faced this temptation numerous times before he finally assumed the throne. Samuel, God's prophet, had anointed David and prophesied that he would be the next king of Israel (I Sam 16:12-13). Yet, David waited on God's timing, he watched in frustration as a crazed King Saul
brought the kingdom into jeopardy. Saul pursued David to murder him, forcing David to flee for his life,
Then an incredible opportunity presented itself to David. David found Saul in a vulnerable position, sleeping with his army. Abishai, one of David's warriors, offered to kill Saul It seemed to make perfect sense. God had said He intended for David to be the king. By taking matters into bis own hands, David could bring an end to his exile and assume the throne as God's anointed servant, Yet he refused to compromise his integrity in order to become king, even though he wanted the position and it was rightfully his.
At times you may face similar temptations. Well-meaning
friends advise you to hasten God's will rather than wait upon Him. You may be sorely tempted to take control of your situation, assuming the end will justify the means. These are the times when you must trust God's perfect timing, God may plan for you to attain a certain position or take a new direction, but
the timing may not be right. Watch over your heart. Don't allow others to persuade you to compromise your integrity as you follow God's will. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day.
In the last many months of being unemployed I can say that several times there've been some who've likewise encouraged me to take a short-cut to ending this time of unemployment by taking whatever job no matter what it was or where it was. A few even tried public goading to get me to just take the shortcut. But that's never been God's way of dealing with life. The temptation is always there to take things back into our own hands after we lay it at His feet in prayer.
There's a saying that I heard long ago "God gives His best to those who leave the choice to Him.".
Pretty much I'm sure that sentiment was born in "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the human heart. All that God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9.
We will always have that simple temptation to just take it back, that it's ok, our solution will work just as well as what we were praying for. In some ways that temptation will look just like what we were praying for although the means to achieve it will not be the same.
A life principle of Dr. Charles Stanley is to obey God and leave the consequences to Him.
Do what it is God's put in front of you to be doing to the best of your ability and wait upon the Lord for His timing. If we've not been harboring sin in our hearts then indeed nothing has hindered our prayers before Almighty God. If we have not withheld forgiveness from anyone then our prayers have not been hindered before Almighty God.
This thought of not taking shortcuts goes hand-in-hand with that passage also of King David in Psalms. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." Psalms 139:23-24.
Before you jump into what you might think is the solution to what you've been praying for...pray again.
Remember most of Job's friends were rebuked by the Lord Jesus, all except one, for their inaccurate view of life and of God and their seriously bad advice on how to take the shortcut to end what he was going through.
We surely can desire shortcuts to getting through difficult times, but all they will end up doing is prolonging whatever it was we were going through in order to achieve whatever it was that God wanted to do in our lives in that moment.
That's another life principle of Dr. Stanley's. Adversity will last only as long as is necessary to achieve whatever God was wanting to do in our lives....and not one second more.
You're in good company for taking the longer way, the right way, before God. Joseph, we read, was allauded for his sticking with walking with the Lord. While falsely accused, while jailed, and everything in-between. He could have escaped, could have ran for it when the opportunity came up. But held out for whatever the Lord wanted of him, serving as though he was serving the Lord no matter where he was.
Continue to pray on, pray over, pray through life. Continue to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you...in His time.
Seek not shortcuts and don't give those thoughts a second thought. Satan's temptations we read about with Jesus all were short-cuts. Jesus shot them all down as well as everything else we have never read that He was tempted with.
This is our example from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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