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God – the Genie in the Magic Lamp?

     Most of us are familiar with the story of Alladin and the Magic Lamp. He obtained a lamp containing a genie. When he rubbed the lamp, the genie had to grant him a wish. Unfortunately, many of us view God that way. We pay no attention to Him, making our own plans and going our own way. Then when we get in over our heads, we turn to God and beseech Him to help us out by blessing our own plans or extracting us from the difficulties we have gotten into by going our own way. If He does, we want Him to go back into the lamp so we can go our own way again and not be bothered with Him. If He doesn't, we become angry with Him for not helping us!

     In Joshua 5:13 – 6:5, we saw how Joshua was confronted by what seemed to be a man with a drawn sword. Joshua, being a bit worried at this sight, asked him which side he was on. The answer is enlightening – neither! The question isn't whether God is on our side, but whether we are on God's side and under His command! Joshua immediately submitted to the Lord by falling on his face, worshiping, and asking for God's commands. The Captain of the Lord's Army first emphasized His divinity, which means this had to be a theophany or pre-incarnation appearance of Christ, not an angel. Angels go out of their way to avoid any claim to Divinity, as shown in Rev. 22: 8, 9. Then the Captain gave instructions to Joshua on how to take Jericho (Joshua Chapter 6: 1 – 5). These instructions would have appeared to be absolute foolishness to any military man, They involved no physical weapons, no military training and no strategy other than to simply to obey God, but Joshua followed them exactly, with amazing results.

     Immediately following the taking of Jericho, The Israelites decided to take Ai next. Ai, or Ain, means ruin, so this probably wasn't a very strong place, not at all like Jericho. Joshua Chapter 7 says that after looking over the place, the Israelites decided it was so insignificant it wasn't worth sending any great number of men to take it. Notice there was no asking of the Lord in this second battle – the Israelites formulated their own plans to fight in their own strength. They didn't seem to even consider needing God, or if they did, they automatically assumed He would bless their own plans! They were unaware of the sin that cut them off from God. If they had asked first, God would have pointed it out to them and they wouldn't have suffered defeat.

     Following this disaster, they did turn back to God and ask Him what was wrong. After they remedied the problem, and then followed God's directions, they were successful in taking Ai.

     However, shortly after this they failed again in the matter of the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:14), following their own ideas again and neglecting to ask God! Because of this, they were forced to have idolaters live among them, which greatly weakened the nation in future years.

     Why is it that over and over again, the Israelites fell into the same trap of forgetting God and going their own way? Deuteronomy chapter 8 gives us an idea. Success, whether economic or military, leads to pride. Why is it that we insist on following our own ideas and plans, and then expecting God to bless them – rather than asking Him for His plans and then following those? Instead of attributing success to God and His provision, we attribute it to ourselves and our abilities. In doing this, we forgo God's blessing on future endeavors, and even leave ourselves open to judgment!

     For a contrasting view, look at King David. For all his sins and failures, it is repeated over and over in 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles that “David enquired of the Lord”. I remember a neighbor complaining about a sermon on David, saying that if David was a man after God's own heart, he wanted nothing to do with God. But David wasn't a man after God's own heart because he was an adulterer and murderer. It was because he repented and because he regularly sought God's will and followed it.

     How long did David wait upon God to remove Saul and make him king, rather than doing it himself, which he had numerous chances to do? He refused to do it his own way, but waited for God to do it His way. “I Did It My Way” makes a great song that illustrates our own inner longings and attitudes, but it is disastrous in practice.

What can we learn from all this to apply to our own lives?
 

     Firstly, God is NOT a genie in a magic lamp. He is in no way required to “jump to” and grant us a wish whenever we ask. It isn't about us, it is all about Him. It isn't about His fitting in with and blessing our plans, but about us submitting to Him and fitting in with His plans. He isn't our servant, He is the Creator, the Master and Commander of the universe. We are His creations and His servants. We need to understand this and find our proper place in His order of things.

      Secondly, we need to be careful how we treat God. Suppose you had a friend who showed up at your doorstep begging for a loan to pay his rent, promising to pay it back next payday, and you gave him the money but he never paid you back. Then the next time you saw him he crossed the street to avoid you! But a month later, he showed up at your door again asking for another loan. Suppose this happened over and over? Is this the kind of “friend” you are to God? You want and expect His help, but never associate with His people or do anything He asks?

     Thirdly, we can see that our spiritual state, our Christian maturity, is demonstrated by how we ask of God. How often, how sincerely, how patiently do we ask? Just mumbling a quick prayer for insurance as we rush out to implement our own plans doesn't cut it. We need to seek His will sincerely while being willing to submit to Him and lay aside our own plans. We need to seek Him consistently. We need to patiently wait for His answer. We are told in Scripture that whatever we ask for according to His will we will receive. Asking for our own desires to be met outside of God's will won't get us what we want, and if we do get it it may well be harmful to us. We can often lose out on God's best for us by insisting on something else, which may in itself be good and right, but isn't God's perfect will.

     Fourthly, we have to be careful of pride. If we walk with God and are successful, it won't be long before we begin to be puffed up and attribute that very success to ourselves and our own efforts. We see this in our nation today, where we give credit to our economic system and military power for our success, while ignoring God and lately even forbidding His name to be mentioned. Israel was warned about this by Moses in Deut. 8: 14 – 18. But this principle carries into our personal life. We too easily give credit to our superior intellect, our character, our hard work, etc. - even our faith - for success for which God alone should be given the credit and glory. If we do credit God, it is a marginal credit for giving us our superior intellect, character, ability to work, etc.!

     The Bible says God is the potter, we are the clay (Romans 9: 20 – 21). We don't tell God what to do, He tells us! However, we won't hear Him unless we submit to Him, humble ourselves, and let Him rule rather than letting self rule. If we are unwilling to glorify Him, it is doubtful that He will bless us.

As A. B. Simpson wrote:
 

“Once 'twas busy planning,
Now 'tis trustful prayer;
Once 'twas anxious caring,
Now He has the care.
Once 'twas what I wanted
Now what Jesus says;
Once 'twas constant asking,
Now 'tis ceaseless praise.

Once it was my working,
His it hence shall be;
Once I tried to use Him,
Now He uses me.
Once the power I wanted,
Now the Mighty One;
Once for self I labored,
Now for Him alone.”

Let's stop trying to use God, and let Him use us!