Taking action and waiting on the Lord... - Worthy Christian Forums

Hi all,

Just wanted to share this. It's about taking action and waiting on the Lord. I think John Piper's insights are very helpful.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary...ng_on_the_Lord/

Can you shed some light on the tension between taking action and waiting on the Lord?
The following is an edited transcript of the audio.

Many times in Scripture people are rebuked for not inquiring of the Lord first, but instead acting on their own. Can you shed some light on the tension between doing and waiting on the Lord?

That's a good way to put it. It is a tension, because almost all of our doing is spontaneous doing that you would be insane to try to premeditate.

For example, right now here I am talking. If I tried to pause between each word to consult the Lord whether that word should be used and not another, I couldn't talk! Life can't be lived that way.

I use gestures. I nod my head. My voice goes up and down. Can you imagine how insane I would go if I tried to pause at every moment and said, "Should I use this tone of voice or gesture?" You can't!

Life is spontaneous 95% of the time! Which means that consulting the Lord happens in the morning over the Book, covering the whole day.

You say, "Lord, here I go. I'm going to go into life and I'm going to do ten thousand things with my tongue, my eyes, my hands, my heart, and my legs today. Would you please guide me? Would you so transform my mind and bring it into conformity to Jesus that spontaneously what comes out of my mouth would be helpful and loving to people? Because I can't pause at every moment in my life to ask you about this. You've got to be so in me and so fully functioning through me that my spontaneity is you!"

Now, that's the main way we live our life in consulting with God, I think.

However—I can't tell you what the criteria are for this—but for many things that you are about to do, it is good to pause and pray. Pause and ask God, especially with the bigger things.

Maybe that's one of the criteria: the bigger a thing is, the more fitting it is to pause, get your bearings, and consult with the Lord. And I would say, carrying on that kind of conversation with him all day long as much as you can is a good idea.

I just don't want a person to start to go insane because they're trying to pray over every gesture they make, every corner they turn, every bite they take, saying, "Is this of God?" We can't live our lives that way.

We live freely, and we pause often to consult with God.


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I agree with Piper in that we cannot expect to ask the Lord's direction in every little thing we do, every day. We do of course have fee will, and this is why he graced us with it. We should pray that He will guide us and protect us through our day yes, but I knew a woman in a church I attended some time back who used to pray about the smallest thing. She would ask Jesus what outfit she should wear for the day!

I also agree that in the bigger, potentially life changing things, we should "Be still and know that I am God", and over these things we should pray. Sometimes however, even in these things we may not get a direct answer, and we should, after prayer, decide if we are going to take the next step, and trust that Jesus will guide us through the situation. Spurgeon said, ""go nowhere where you cannot go after prayer", and we usually know after prayer if what we are about to do is a good or a bad thing.(we often try and convince ourselves otherwise for our own selfish reasons, and that is why we often fail)

I have always tried to use the old adage - :"if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

Prayer, yes, always first, but a healthy dose of common sense also helps!

I also believe that the closer we are to G.od, the easier it is to hear the answers. John, at the last supper, leaned againts the chest of Jesus, and just imagine, he felt the heartbeat of God! Thats how close to Jesus we should be if we want to hear the answers