This title sounds like one of those billboard signs you see while driving across the country, doesn’t it? It isn’t one but it sure can be! When I first saw these billboard signs with slogans by God popping up, I was very amused. Here are a few I have seen I thought you might enjoy!

“Need Directions?” – God

“Have You Read My #1 Best-Seller? There Will Be A Test.” – God

“That ‘Love Thy Neighbor’ Thing, I Meant It.” – God

“Keep Using My Name in Vain and I’ll Make Rush Hour Longer” – God

We live in a world of ever increasing roles and therefore our job descriptions may overlap due to wearing these many hats. Whether it is in our workplaces, our marriages, our families, or other relationships, we have specific jobs to fulfill. We have jobs with defined roles whether it’s being a wife, mommy, single parent, single woman, coworker, or a friend.

Have you ever stepped out of your defined role and did someone else’s job? Why?

Obviously, there can be good and valid reasons to stepping out of your defined role and doing someone else’s job. But I have noticed that people have a hard time staying in their defined roles and performing their specific jobs. Why is that? I mean if your role has been defined why do we step over or into other people’s defined roles? I think one of the top reasons is …control.  We want to be in control!

But why do we like control so much?… We may want things done a certain way…our way. We don’t trust someone else enough to give up the reigns. It gives us security and confidence being in control. We may feel superior being in control which really comes down to our pride. And I am sure there are many more reasons!

Well, there is another role we have that is defined for us in the bible and that is our role as a child of God.  Many times as a child of God we try and take control and do what would be considered… God’s job!

I believe God is a conditional God who loves and cares for us so much that he has given us thousands and thousands of promises for our benefit!

“Conditional” is defined as subject to, implying, or dependent upon a stipulation or prerequisite…dependent upon something essential to the appearance or occurrence of something else.

The bible is full of thousands and thousands of precious promises that God has for us! And yes, many of them are conditional!

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” NIV Our job is to delight ourselves in the Lord. His job is to give us the desires of our heart! (Not go try and make those desires of our hearts happen on our own.)

Matthew 6:33 says “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” NLT Our job is to seek God’s kingdom first. His job is that He will give us what we need.

Proverbs 3:4-5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” NIV Our job is to trust him and not try and understand and figure everything out in our own minds, and His job is to guide us on the right path.

Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition and with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Our job is to not be so stressed out and anxious (I know…easier said than done!) but give God our requests so that He may give us peace in our hearts and minds. (Peace beyond what we can comprehend!)

These are just a few of the promises God has for us! I haven’t even scratched the surface of all the precious promises God has for you and me. As you can see there is a condition to be met each time in order to receive the blessing.

Have you ever taken matters into your own hands instead of waiting on God?

I know it is human nature to be impatient at times and decide that when you don’t see your prayers being answered right away that it is time to take matters into your own hands. Because you know… maybe God just forgot, or is too busy, or just maybe you can just get it done faster or better than God. Ever think this way?

Unfortunately, when we take matters into our own hands and play “hamburger helper” with God we can have some negative consequences to face that is more serious than a subpar dinner meal.

In the book of Genesis, the story of Abraham and Sarah is a great biblical example of taking matters into your own hands . To set this background for you…Abraham and Sarah are very old…and Sarah is barren. Because they have no children, they have no heir to their estate.

In those days, a married woman who could not have children was shamed by their peers and was often required to give a female servant to her husband to produce heirs. The children born to the servant woman were considered the children of the wife.

But God promised a son to be born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age who would not only be heir to their estate  but whose descendants would multiply as many as the stars in the sky or grains of sand on the seashore…basically too numerous to count! Abraham was a great man of faith and believed in God’s promise.

But as time went on and they were not pregnant (and they certainly weren’t getting any younger!), Sarah began to doubt God’s timetable. So she decided to take control and have her maidservant Hagar sleep with Abraham so that she would become pregnant and bear him a son. Sure enough Hagar became pregnant and now Abraham and Sarah had a son named Ishmael whom they believed would be their heir.

But God still kept his promise of Abraham and Sarah having a son of their own. God fulfilled his promise to them and Abraham and Sarah had a baby boy of their own named Isaac…25 years after God first promised to Abraham that he would be a father of great nations! Wow! Can you even imagine waiting that long!

Unfortunately, there were some very serious consequences from Sarah taking matters into her own hands. Just to name a few…

1)    Hagar bore a son Ishmael whose “hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him, and will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” Genesis 16:12b Ishmael and his descendants lived as nomads and became a large tribe/nation who were hostile to Israel and to God.

2)    Sarah had a very strained relationship with Hagar full of anger, bitterness, and resentment which caused Hagar to initially run away. And eventually, Hagar and Ishmael were permanently expelled from Abraham’s family.

3)    Although Sarah arranged for Hagar to have a child with Abraham, she took out her anger on Abraham and later blamed him for the results.

Now, I have certainly had my share of taking matters into my own hands and not trusting God. But I have learned that God loves and cares for me so much and that his promises are for my benefit…every single one of them!

When you get the urge to step over your defined role as God’s child into God’s role, remember… Don’t play “hamburger helper” with God…He doesn’t need your help!

And I guarantee you will have greater peace and blessing staying in your role and doing your job versus trying to do someone else’s job…or God’s job!

Reflection Points:

1)    Do you find yourself always trying to control people or situations in your life?

2)    Do you have a hard time giving God 100% control over your life?   Are there areas of your life that you still like to control and hold onto instead of handing the reigns to God?

4) When you don’t see the results you want or don’t want to wait on God, do you take matters in your own hands?

Action Points:

1)    Determine the areas of your life that you have difficulty giving God control of. God wants to be the driver in your life..not the passenger.

2)    Pray for God to give you strength to hand over the reigns. Pray for greater faith and trust in Him.

3)    Dig into God’s word to understand more the many precious promises he has for you…and what your role is as a child of God.