Don’t Tell Me What To Do

“Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth..” – Matthew 28:18.

In the movie The Blues Brothers, a couple of ex-convict musicians were trying to raise money for an orphanage. Anytime they were asked about their work, they had a standard response: “We’re on a mission from God.” They always said it, as if they believed it. The very idea that two inept, unworthy human beings could be on a mission from God was, of course, the central joke of the whole story.

Here is the story of our life: We are sinful, inept, unworthy human beings on a mission from God. The Blues Brothers encounter a lot of obstacles and resistance to fulfilling their mission for God. We face the same thing, often of our own doing. That is because we don’t like to be told what to do…we resist all those rules and regulations we read about in the Bible. 

Kids don’t like to be told what to do. They think they have it all figured out. And an amazing thing happens as the kids grow older, they look back and realize their parents were right more often than not. And there is that moment when they sound exactly like their parents when they become parents. And inevitably they encounter the same resistance to being told what to do from their kids. Most people simply do not like to be told what to do.  When raising our own kids, we had that moment when we sounded like our parents.

But what happens when God is telling us what to do? There invariably will come a time in our spiritual journey when the Lord will guide us in a new way. His preference is that we would sense His leading, fully cooperate and move in the new direction. However, as is all too often the case, He must intervene in the affairs of our lives due to the fact that we are comfortable and entrenched in our present course of action.

When our plans are interrupted and we seem to have lost our authority, we may experience some anxiety due to a perceived loss of control. Our authority is at best temporary, so as uncomfortable as we may become, we must trust that He is leading us along the best pathway for our lives. “The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” (Psalms 32:8).

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you like to be told what to do? Why or why not?
2. How is it different when God tells us what to do?
3. What can we do this week to better understand God’s plan for our lives?