Maybe He’ll Change His Mind

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Catey Stover in Freedom Fighters

“For there is no partiality with God.” Romans 2:11 (NKJV)

 

Whether I like it or not, I have moments where I am just a flat-out knucklehead. I can’t see the forest for the trees and I want what I clearly cannot have. Now, this would probably be a great confession if I was a younger man, or perhaps even a teenager but I ain’t and my guess is that this leaves me in a sad state of affairs in the eyes of many. There was a time when I said “So What, I’ll do, say, get it anyway” but that left me in a sad state of affairs and it took a lot of divine intervention to repair the damage. Even though some of that ain’t fixed (yet) I have a somewhat clearer understanding of what God’s will is for my life…or do I? Hmm.

“Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.” (Romans 6:16) That is a clear and to the point verse, and so is this one, “You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” (Genesis 4:7)

You would think that someone who has spent some time being a “Bible Scholar” would understand this deeply and be the model Christian for all to see but that isn’t always the case, is it? “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Now, there’s a verse that cuts right to the chase and speaks the most truth about all of us. Anyway…I wanna quote something that I read from the author, John Bevere.

“Has this ever been your situation? Have you ever known in your heart what God was saying, but you went to Him in prayer anyway, hoping for a change in His response? You perhaps covered up the inappropriate desire by saying, “Let me pray about it,” or “Let me pray about it one more time.’”

Bevere will admit that he has been guilty of this on several occasions and if you haven’t been able to tell from the beginning of this, so have I, but if there was anyone else in the Bible who stands right next to the two of us it’s the prophet Balaam. You might remember that I have written about him in the past but for this occasion, I am gonna borrow a position from Bevere’s book, “Killing Kryptonite” and that is this.

Balaam knew better than to go outside of God’s limitations and he couldn’t be blessed if he deliberately disobeyed but he coveted what a king had to offer so much that he opened a door to deception. Balaam’s first mistake was to bother with a king who was already outside a covenant relationship with God but when it was to curse the people of God Balaam knew better but still said, “Stay here overnight, in the morning I will tell you whatever the LORD directs me to say.” (Numbers 22:8) God’s response was clear…do not go with these men. But instead of just saying “I will not go with you” Balaam’s position was, “The LORD won’t let me go with you.”

When the offer got bigger, Balaam still stood on saying, “Ain’t doin’ nuttin’ against the LORDS will.” He invited them to stay the night and maybe was hoping that God would change His mind if he took this to prayer just one more time. But God being God told Balaam to go and then His anger arose, there’s a problem with a donkey over some “Angel of the LORD” and then this kinda off the mark statement, “well if it really displeases You, I’ll turn around.” WHAT!? Really dude?

When our desires outweigh God’s will for us it seems like we become spiritually blind. Balaam’s idolatry made him so oblivious to God’s divine discipline that a talking donkey didn’t seem like such a big deal. This is what could happen to us when we desire something that God has made perfectly clear ain’t for us…at all. Trying to justify our covetousness by saying I’ll just keep praying on it until it happens or manipulating circumstances so that maybe it’ll just happen can lead to not only God’s anger and judgment against us but to our own heartache as well.

So, if you’ve said to yourself before you’ve taken something to prayer, “Maybe He’ll change His mind” remember…He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Count on it. Amen?

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris is a husband, a father, has an education in Biblical doctrine and is a graduate of The Colony of Mercy. He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net

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Think About This: “If we really desire something, and God has communicated His will on the matter yet we still desire it, God will often give it to us, even if He knows it is not best for us and that we will ultimately be judged for it.” — John Bevere

The Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 25-28| You can download our 2020 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here. 

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: ⁹ But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ¹⁰ who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. -1 Peter 2:9-10

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the doctrinal and theological views held by America’s Keswick.