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From our limited, natural perspective, it appears we reserve the right to control the direction of our lives. Unfortunately, this attitude leads us to live in rebellion against God and follow our self-centered desires and plans. Although such arrogant disobedience deserves our holy and righteous Creator's immediate judgment, He, in His merciful patience, often permits our self-centered living for a season. However, because He desires His best for us, He at times will intervene in our lives to reveal His omnipotence, His sovereignty over all things, and our need for repentance.
A Scriptural example of this is Jonah. While God called him to preach a message of repentance to the Ninevites, Jonah refused due to his selfish desire to see his enemies be destroyed. Furthermore, his heart became so hardened towards God that he attempted to flee from His presence. While God permitted Jonah's disobedience, He eventually intervened with a tumultuous storm and, as Jonah 1:17 states, appointed a great fish to swallow him. This traumatic experience humbled Jonah, leading him to praise God for His salvation and obey His calling to preach to the Ninevites. As this account demonstrates, while God's interventions can be turbulent, His breaking is often necessary for us to acknowledge His sovereignty, yield to His will, and receive His blessings through obedience.
Jeremiah 18 perfectly illustrates our position before God. In this passage, the Lord compares Himself and Israel to a potter and clay. While Israel had the freedom to choose between serving or disobeying the Lord, He had the power to bless their obedience or break them for their rebellion. Likewise, while God has the perfect plan for our lives, we must decide to either humbly follow it or rebelliously forge our own self-centered path. Although God may patiently permit our disobedience, His immense desire for us to repent and receive His best will lead Him to intervene through warnings, discipline, and even traumatic events that break us. While the latter may bring immense suffering and permanent consequences, they are necessary because they reveal our frailty before God and need to depend on Him. Furthermore, they are often the only way our stubborn flesh can be broken to free our spirit to worship and serve Him. Thus, as clay in the Potter's hand, we can choose to either yield to His perfect molding or spoil ourselves with rebellious living that requires His discipline.
As Jonah learned the hard way, God alone is truly in control of our lives. Though He may permit us to rebel as the father did the Prodigal Son, He will eventually use warnings, sin's consequences, and even severe discipline to call us back to Him. Though His interventions may break us, they permit Him to reshape our lives as a potter reworks a spoiled vessel, with Him making us more Christlike, obedient to His will, and open to receive His best for us.
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