Getting in God's Way

InTouch Ministries offers a daily online devotional. Last Sunday's, August 30, 2015, was particularly well suited for this blog about KatieLyn, the runaway bride. I have included an excerpt of the introduction and conclusion below, but if you are interested you can open the full devotion in a new window HERE.

Believers are called to be compassionate (Colossians 3:12), but we must show discernment even when practicing kindness. At times, stepping into someone’s life can block what God is doing with that person. Dr. Charles Stanley says: "I learned this lesson the hard way. On several different occasions, I stepped into situations I shouldn’t have. Once, I met a need when the Lord was trying to draw someone into a life of spiritual dependence. Another time, I offered comfort when the divine plan was for a heartbroken believer to seek the Lord’s solace. On still another occasion, I bailed a desperate person out of trouble before he learned God’s lesson. The fellow from this last situation got into the same situation again.  Nowadays, I pray before acting upon sympathetic feelings. (…) Seek God’s will before offering compassionate aid, lest you obstruct His unfolding plan.

The main portion of the devotional, represented by the ellipsis, used Peter as an example of someone who tried to interfere with the Lord's plan. (Matthew 16:21-23)
There is a parallel here with my August 25 post on "Agabus the Prophet." In that one, Agabus prophesied that Paul would go to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of the council. In this case, it is Jesus who predicted of Himself that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes. In the same way that the believers in Caesarea tried to talk Paul out of God's plan for his life a few years hence,  Peter reproached Jesus in a similar fashion, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You." 

There is no doubt that Peter loved Jesus. He wasn't trying to rebel on purpose; he really thought he was helping!

Our runaway bride has had the same sort of "help" in missing God's plan for herself. When she needed to be encouraged to step out in faith, she was encouraged to play it safe and give into doubt instead. When she needed to take responsibility and start dealing with the fallout of her decision to run, she was insulated away.
When her family and friends rushed in to excuse her from her obligation to return the wedding gifts and to bail her out of unpleasantness by shielding her, they stepped into situations that they should not have stepped into. When they consoled KatieLyn despite the fact that she was running from the Lord's will and absolved her from accountability for her actions, they also got in God's way.

By failing to seek God’s will before comforting her, they obstructed His plan for her life.

The Do-Gooders who get in God's way often end up handing the devil some of his most gleeful successes. Here are three reasons why:

1. In KatieLyn's case, this was done at a personal level, but it was happening on the national stage at the very same time. The Do-Gooders who never consulted with the Lord but took it upon themselves to decide that establishing a right to 'gay marriage' was the right thing to do have enabled Satan to destroy the plan that the Creator established for the family. This destruction will rise like the tide: No one wave ever seems that much larger than the ones around it, but after a while, the beach is only half of what it had been, and there is no obvious cause for how it happened. So the first reason that the devil can be gleeful about getting the Do-Gooders to do his dirty work is that he doesn't get the blame—after all, they were doing noble things like meeting needs by offering comfort to the brokenhearted and bailing out the the troubled.

2. In KatieLyn's case, the Do-Gooders effectively stopped her pursuit of becoming the woman God wants her to become. At least for a season, they have helped her convince herself that she is content with being single. This was not the dream that God put in her heart from childhood, however, and because the Lord is both faithful and does not change His mind, there will be costly repercussions. There is a very real possibility that the devil can up the stakes by inserting pride into the situation. As long as he can keep KatieLyn proud of having done what so many have told her is "the right thing," he can keep her from repenting and fulfilling God's plan. So the second reason that the devil can be gleeful about getting the Do-Gooders to do his dirty work is that they have halted Christian growth, and in some instances and abetted in regression.

3. Do-Gooders often end up hurting themselves because they live by formulaic religion instead of by being Spirit led.  This is what Dr. Stanley confessed as his mistake in the daily devotional. God was trying to teach someone to depend on the Lord, but Stanley got in God's way and prematurely met the need. God was trying to show someone that they can turn to the Lord for solace, but Stanley got in God's way by giving human comfort. In his last example, Stanley bailed a person out of trouble before he mastered the lesson that God had planned to have him learn. So a third reason that the devil can be gleeful about getting the Do-Gooders to do his dirty work is that the Do-Gooders themselves are acting in rebellion against the will of the Lord.

The Lesson
KatieLyn  has said that she allowed other priorities to come before God in her life. Her comforters have been doing that too. They have been getting in God's way.