Last Wednesday, while in the Word I was struck by the beautiful of our need for total devotion to God’s word expressed In Psalm 119: 1-24. I vaulted to personally declare a 100% commitment to following the Word of God every minute of every day. Then I reflected on the reality of my lack of commitment and obedience, which Interestingly, coincided with my exploration into the Quaker phrase of “That of God in Every Man”, the basis of which is our personal relationship with God (Benson, Quaker Religious Thoughts, 1970).
God is unbound and unconditioned by his creation. And ultimately, his wisdom and power are unmatched by us his creation. Knowing this we must realize that God has imparted a very unique status to man. Unlike the birds, fish, and other creatures who follow migration and life cycle patterns, man is free to choose where he lives and what he does. Man can also communicate with God through prayer to petition and seek His will, and we have God’s power and wisdom readily accessible to us.
We have the freedom to obey God or not, to communicate with him, or not and to come and go as we please. We, as mankind, thus have a unique relationship with God. It is personal, not forced and he has given us the power and privilege to make our own choices.
My son just got married and during the ceremony it hit me (duh!) that he is now totally on his own, starting his family, and setting his future, his legacy. We have a great relationship of love and open dialogue, but ultimately it is he who will make the final decision of what he will do, and the choices he will make in raising his family, choosing his career and life path.
This lack of control makes our relationship now more deeply personal. I so desire to see him make the right decisions and honor God. I so desire to communicate, spend time with him, and show him the way. I can, and will, make myself available and will delight in our communications. This personal desire is heightened because I cannot make him do anything, he is his own man with his own family. God has done the same with us in that he allows us the same privilege. And I can see that when my son does make the right decisions it is out of love and respect and agreement, not forced which would be no love at all.
God has blessed us with his Word that gives us direction, and even shows us real life examples of the consequences of our decisions should we go our own way. And he blesses us and honors us with the privilege and power to choose how we live. And he will be there for us always – even till the end of the age.
Barnabas Man 