Hello, and welcome to Enbolden, living a bold Christian life. I'm Chris Shutter, an ordinary Christian living with and learning about an extraordinary God. Thank you for joining me on spending 30 days of praising God. Can you believe it?
Today marks the 30th day of praise already. And I've been thinking a lot about the words related to God, like omnipresent, omnipotent, and just those types of descriptions of God being so enormous, and then yet how much He has a manifest presence in our lives, that He cares about what happens to us 24-7. So today my whole idea comes from Exodus 3, 14. God said to Moses, I am who I am.
This is what you were to say to the Israelites. I am, has sent me to you. And so I've been reading a lot about going ahead of God, thinking how I know the right way, the right answer, and moving forward on a path without first seeking God. And I was reminded of when years ago I was asked to be our elementary school's PTA president.
At the time the elementary school was one of the largest, if not the largest in the district, with well over a thousand students. And it was about to undergo a major construction program to build more classrooms. That meant a lot of turmoil with the way the kids were going to be dropped off at school, where classes would be held, and how many of our PTA programs would even take place. I told the search committee I could do the job, but I didn't think they would want my style of leadership.
I wasn't an insider, and I didn't have any qualms about possibly squashing old ways of doing things. And yet they returned to me multiple times asking me to take the job. And I did. Now, one thing you'll notice is that, like we do in so many of the biblical stories of failed leaders, I haven't mentioned consulting God, because I didn't.
That is until after I said yes. I believe it was the next day after I agreed to the job that I had the first of many conversations with the Almighty about this decision. And I went something like this. Lord, I've done this thing.
Please help me not to be it, not to be the wrong decision. In other words, I went ahead of him, way ahead of him, and now I wanted him to approve and fix my mess. And you know, God was with me throughout the two years of that term. He was there when I cried myself to sleep.
He was there when I had parents screaming at me over the phone. And he was there when people who I thought were my friends turned their backs on me. But he didn't take away the consequences of my decision. They got that most of the time when I failed to let God lead my life, it hasn't resulted in some really horrible final outcome.
He has picked me up and dusted me off. And after too many times of being on that same wheel, I've decided to maybe I should take a different path to trust that God is the great I am, the one who has the best laid plans, who can make my path much more smooth if I just consult him first, if I release my need to be the most knowledgeable, not just about my life, but others. So I praise God today on this final 30th day for being I am, for being the Lord Almighty, the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. You know, if you've ever seen the Jim Carrey movie Bruce Almighty, you'll see a man who takes this idea of control to the extreme.
He wants to be in charge of his life and no one knows better than him. So God kind of turns over his powers to him. And of course, he makes a mess of it. At first he thinks answering prayers is kind of cool.
And then he becomes totally inundated with millions of millions of prayers. So he just gives everybody what they ask. And as we know, God doesn't give us all we ask. He gives us what we need.
The movie is hilarious, but it speaks to our innate need to seemingly to be in control all the time, to take over the job of I am. We can shake our heads at characters in the Bible like Saul who stop seeking God's direction and make every mistake possible. But how many of us today will do the very same? How many of us yesterday forgot to place God at the top of our consultant list and instead called our friends or family for advice?
And then probably did what we originally wanted to do anyways. Isaiah 55, 8 says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways, my ways, declares the Lord. Friends, God is God and we are not, thankfully.
His thoughts and ways are so much better than ours. If we truly believe this and accept him as our Creator, as an active participant in our lives, then we need to seek his plans for us. Let's all work together and start right now by thanking him for being the great I am. It's really been a joy and a blessing to be able to share these 30 days with you and I hope you've enjoyed it.
Have a blessed day. I'd love to hear from you and find out more about how you are living out your bold Christian line. You can find me on Instagram at embolden- the O or at my blog at embolden.net.