Impulse for your month

“Woe to him who strives with his Maker! ... Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’” (Isa 45:9)

Isaiah provides us with some wise and practical advice. It is based on both an understanding of God’s power as well as an understanding of God’s character. We strive with those that we disagree over a whole variety of issues. Especially where we disagree with their ideas. But to adopt this approach with God is to question His wisdom. ‘Does God really know what He is doing?’ ‘Can He provide the direction that I need in my life?’ If we really believe that God is God, then our attitude should be one of reverent attention to everything He says. Our answer to the preceding questions should be an emphatic, “Yes!”

There is a second thing we can learn from this verse. God has everything under control and in the fullness of time He will accomplish His plans. We need to learn to trust Him to achieve his objectives, but in the timing that He has determined. Too many have learned the lesson that trying to accomplish God’s purposes on our timescale so often leads to disaster. Waiting for God to accomplish things His way, only leads to blessing. Not that this should encourage laziness, but rather a constant cooperation with Him in everything that He is doing.

And finally we can rest in the wonderful assurance that He is making us into something wonderful. It may not be what we expect, and it may not be what we were planning, but what He makes of our lives, once we are His, is a perfect jewel. Each one formed in the likeness of His Son, though each one bearing the marks of their own personality, making a kaleidoscope of beauty: “Those who feared the Lord shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “On the day that I make them My jewels (special treasure).” (Mal 3:17a)

Are you sure that what God does with your life will be perfect, and that His objective is wonderful? Have you stopped striving with your Maker, and are you cooperating in His eternal purposes?