Which Will You Choose: Before or After?
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you thought you "knew" what you needed to do, so you didn't bother to ask God what He wanted you to do? I have. And usually, the outcome doesn't look as well as I pictured.
Too often, we try to take care of our struggles by ourselves without bringing God into the situation. We don't want to bother God with the "little stuff" or we believe that we already know what we should do. Then, after we fail in our attempt to fix the situation or when it doesn't turn out the way we thought it would, we ask God for His help.
In his song After My All, Justin McRoberts sings about doing this very thing. He encounters tough times, including his father's suicide, and sings:
After my all has been run through
I'll give what's left of me to You
Knowing in time I'll be renewed
And walking again
He soon realizes, as we do, that when he depends on himself to help his situations or his friends and family, he only runs out of energy and answers and strength. He then asks God,
Teach me to know that I need You
Simply because, Lord, I need You
Not cause I'm tired of what I do
McRoberts learned that he needs to go to God before he tries to handle a situation on his own so that God can give him the strength and patience to bring him through those tough times, not just renew him afterward. Notice the change in words:
So before my all has been run through
I'll give the whole of me to You
Wait for Your word in all I do
And walk in Your strength
This is a hard lesson to not only learn but put into practice. It means that we need to depend on God to give us whatever we need to handle our struggles and trials. Matthew 6.33 says, "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." He will provide you with strength, patience, joy, or peace for you to overcome your circumstance. Are you going to let Him?
- Kristi Green
You can purchase Justin McRoberts' song After My All at
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