Living In The Tension

It all seems so difficult.

What are my responsibilities and what are God's responsibilities?

I often see or listen to others who side in opposite corners.

In one corner are those that believe God is sovereign so they have no responsibilities. God decides and makes everything happen in His way and in His time.

In the other corner are those that don't rely or wait on God for anything. They believe they are responsible for making all decisions and for making all things happen.

I have lived in both corners at times.

I try to live somewhere in the middle.

In the tension

Sometimes it is really tough though. How do you know for sure if you are supposed to be going after something or if you are to be waiting for God to open up doors or even just dump it on your lap? The last thing I want is, to be doing something when I should be waiting, or to be waiting when I should be doing something.

Prayer is key but relying on prayer ALONE is never God's way of achieving His goals on earth. He is indeed sovereign, but He has placed on all of us significant human responsibility.

I believe at times His work is not accomplished because we do not do all we can to be prepared for the task that lies ahead of us. The opportunity comes and passes us by because we were not properly equipped to meet it. Sometimes we don't even recognize the opportunity! And if we do we don't have the knowledge, skill, or confidence to do what we must to be successful.

Then there is the other extreme. God's work fails to get done because we take matters into our own hands. We don't seek God's help. We rely on our own wisdom and skills. We may use the words like "prayer", and "faith" but that's all they are...merely words. We say the right things but our actions and attitudes don't line up with our words. Being patient and waiting for God to work is often very difficult. Many times our desires are in line with His, but not the timing. Sometimes we just aren't ready to receive what He has for us or we aren't prepared for what He's going to require of us.

The funny thing is I believe many times when we are waiting on Him, He is actually waiting on us. Other times He is doing work elsewhere, where we can't see, to prepare the opportunity for us. Sometimes He is doing a work on us and we don't even know it.

What?

Does any of this even make any sense?

I am pretty sure I have said absolutely nothing, and proved absolutely nothing. Thanks for wasting your time reading this. Now go wait and go do something. In the meantime, I am gonna prepare like it all depends on me, and pray and know that it all depends on Him.