No! No! I'll do it now!

Isn't it a common theme with children- you tell them not do to something for their own good, but they do it anyway? Then when they get hurt, they come running back to mom and dad. When the children are small, it's not as frustrating, I don't believe, as when they are older and questioning your competence, it would seem. The same thing goes for responsibilities as well. You can instruct them until you're blue in the face to clean their room, but they continue to let it get worse and worse. Yet, when they want a friend to come and spend the night, you have inconvenienced them by asking about the state of their bedroom! Only THEN do they take what we've been saying all along seriously, and then it's "No! No! I'll clean it! I'll do it now!".

The more I read, and reread the Old Testament, the more I realize just how much we in this modern day, are like the Israelites. Children especially, but we all act like the Israelites, don't we? As adults, I think we do more so in some ways, especially when it comes to fighting the bigger fights of our lives, such as our fears. When we are fearful about things in our lives, a natural tendency is to look at everything around us, instead of looking UP, to God, for the answers. I remember years ago going through tough times someone said "well I guess all we got left to do is to pray" after I had exhausted all of the options I could think of for the situation. I don't even remember what it was about, but I do remember hearing that saying and the Lord really dealt with me on that, and how praying should had been the FIRST thing I done, not the LAST thing. It saves so much more energy when you just seek the wisdom of God first in a situation and wait for His guidance than to look to my own knowledge and reasoning, cause as an adoptive Israelite, I have no idea what I'm doing here! None of us do!

We are all fighting battles in our lives, and some of these battles are God ordained ones. God told the Israelites to fight a battle, He even assured them victory (sound familiar? we have that, too!):

Deuteronomy 1:
29Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
30The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;

But the Israelites got stubborn, and leaned to their own reasoning instead of trusting God. Choosing NOT to follow God when He is leading you somewhere, is choosing to NOT BELIEVE God and His promises to you. God is not a liar!

32Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,

But then they said "Oh no! No! we'll do it!" when they realized their folly before the Lord and in their situation:

40But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by
the way of the Red sea.
41Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.

Then God proverbially said "It's too late in the week to plan your sleepover, there's too much work to do in your room. There are things growing underneath your bed and I have too many errands this week to help you. You're going to have to pass on the sleepover this weekend to work on your room and get it right the way it's supposed to be, then maybe next weekend, we can plan something. ... Maybe this will be a lesson learned that you need to keep your room clean daily like I've been telling you, not a path to your bed cleared out! Now look, you want a friend to come over and you can't do it."

42And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them. Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.
43So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.
44And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
45And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.

Have you ever had a situation in your life where you looked to your own wisdom and reasoning instead of God's, and things went bad? I believe we all have at some point in our Christian walks. Lets make a point to follow God in the beginning, and realize our dependence upon Him. Is you think God is your "co pilot", now would be a good time to understand how important it is to get out of the cockpit! Realize that not seeking the Lord for guidance, and trusting the Lord will care for you in the battles of your life, is exactly what the Israelites done and they were defeated. Do you want to live a defeated life, or a victorious one?

Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."