You Can Go Your Own Way
It reminds me of a really old song by Fleetwood Mac. (Excuse the non-Christian reference) – You Can Go Your Own Way. I thought of it because we are talking about going our own way today instead of going God’s way. I think that sometimes people do that with the Lord. God has given us the ability to choose but some things are not up for debate. Choose wrong and lose. This idea of doing whatever you want to do without consulting God doesn’t seem like you are bought with a price. It’s like you are a free agent. But if you aren’t for God, you are against Him. Let’s unpack that a little bit.
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Scripture of the Day: “You Can Go Your Own Way”
Job 9:4 – “He is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who hath hardened himself against Him and Prospered?” Job is talking about God in this scripture. Job has a really good question here. And in this chapter, he goes on to talk about how God created the mountains, oceans, seas and He directs the forces. God is God. He created this whole thing. He has control of everything. He is the most dominant, the most powerful, and the smartest. God is on top.
Job asks the question: “What is man that man could even argue with God? What do we have to stand on that we could come to the creator of us and say, “I don’t agree. I don’t like it. I want to do something else. I think you made a bad choice. I think your decision is terrible. I think your way is silly.” Job was saying that we aren’t even a drop in the bucket or even a blip on the screen in relation to this God. The one and only true and living God. Who created everything.
Job says, “What can we do? He’s in control of everything.”
Job’s question at the beginning was a rhetorical question. The answer is that no one has rebelled against God and prospered. No one gets to rebel against the owner and the creator of all things. Who has all power, all knowledge, and is always present. I don’t want to make God sound like a tyrant because He’s not. He’s just that fantastic. He’s everywhere. He’s omnipresent. He’s omniscient. He’s Omnipotent. He knows all. He is just everything. And it’s hard for us to conceive that because we aren’t everything. We can only be in one place at one time. We can only think really well about one thing at a time.
But God doesn’t have that problem.
I’ve even asked God selfishly, “God, when I get to heaven, I want undivided, individual time with you. How are you going to make that work? I’m ready to go to heaven and spend time with you but I want one-on-one time.” If I’m going to have a mansion, which I don’t really care about, I want a big porch and I want God to sit down with me and I want us to talk it out for a while. And maybe sometimes we won’t say anything at all. Maybe I can just sit there beside Him and look at everything He has done and just look at Him and be amazed at His splendor and His wonder.
But God doesn’t have a problem with divided attention here and He won’t have a problem with it there either. We do because we are flesh because. We don’t have His ability. But Job was asking, “Who has the ability to go against God and prosper?”
My Thoughts: “You Can Go Your Own Way”
When I read this scripture, I immediately thought of “Saul/Paul” (New Testament). I’m referring to Paul before his conversion. When Jesus says to him on road to Damascus at his point of conversion, “I’m Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It’s hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” Even Jesus had His little rhetorical/sarcastic statement to Saul/Paul that he would totally understand. This was a phrase that was used during Biblical times.
Farmers would prick their oxen with a goad. A goad is a stick with a really sharp piece of iron on the end. This rod was used to prick the oxen to steer them in the right direction. But sometimes the oxen would rebel by kicking back at the prick because he didn’t like it, or he didn’t want to go that way. And what would happen is that the sharp piece of iron would be driven further into his flesh. So basically, the more the animal rebels and kicks, the worse the damage to the animal. The more rebellion, the more suffering you have.
Jesus said this to Saul/Paul because he was kicking back against Jesus and persecuting His followers. And it wasn’t getting any better for Him. Jesus still found him on the road to try and lead back into the right direction.
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Application: “You Can Go Your Own Way”
God is looking far into the future when He is leading and guiding you and me. Because we are so limited.
It reminds me of a really old song about Fleetwood Mac. (Excuse the non-Christian reference) I thought of it because we are talking about going our own way today instead of going God’s way. I think that sometimes people do that with the Lord. God has given us the ability to choose but some things are not up for debate. Choose wrong and lose. This idea of doing whatever you want to do without consulting God doesn’t seem like you are bought with a price. it’s like you are a free agent. But if you aren’t for God, you are against Him.
Let’s unpack that a little bit.
The Bible says that you are not your own you are bought with a price, so serve Him. (1st Corinthians 6:20) Part of serving Him is listening to His voice. Because He is going to lead you down the best path possible. He’s not a control freak. He doesn’t try to dictate to your life to use you and get what He can out of you. He tries to guide your life so that you can have the best life possible. Because He sees the present, the past, and the future.
Secondly, it’s like you are a free agent. That’s a football term for a player who’s eligible to sign with anybody. In other words, the player is not committed. He’s free. He’s out of a contract. He can go play and work for whomever he wants to. Well, this whole idea of “I’m going to do whatever I want. I’m going to go my own way. I know better.”, you’re acting like a free agent.
You’re not committed.
0-Well, that’s not the relationship that we are called to have with God. We are called to be in a committed relationship. And in committed relationships you have conversations. You discuss things. And you honor each other by doing that. Free agents are free to work for whomever. But that’s not the way it works with the Lord.
Connection: “You Can Go Your Own Way”
1 Samuel 15:23 – “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” These are very strong statements from Samuel because King Saul decided to do it his own way because he thought his way was better. God had given him a direct order and King Saul disobeyed God 2-3 times. King Saul thought his way was better. God would tell him to do something, and he would go and look at the situation and say, “Well, I didn’t do what you said because I thought this was better.”
Can you imagine going to God and saying that? Yes, we should be able to because we do it too. We just don’t do it as blatantly and as openly as King Saul. Because God doesn’t always come down to us and say, “Hey go do this, this, and this and do it exactly like this, this, and this.” No, He gently leads and guides us. He gives us the word. He gives us anointed preaching. He gives us dreams. He gives us mentors. He gives us all types of things.
And sometimes He does speak to us in an audible voice or in our hearts and spirits. And yet, we all have moments where we go,
“I think my way is better.” And we may not say it out loud, but we go and do what we thought was better. We think that our way is better.
We think that the outcome of what we choose to do is going to be better than what God said.
That is rebellion. I don’t care how we paint it. And this stubbornness is just like iniquity and idolatry. And Idolatry is a really big NO, NO. That is worshipping something else other than God. And stubbornness is basically placing yourself higher than God. So, in a weird way you are idolizing your own opinion and your own way.
You are serving self and not God. You have become the idol.
These scriptures are here for us to learn. We don’t need to do our own thing. We need to do God’s thing. King Saul got the Kingdom stripped away from him because he simply would not do what God asked him to do. God asked him, “Why can’t you just be obedient. Why can’t you just do what I want you to do?” And we see that years later that the things that God told him to take care of and he didn’t, came back to cause harm to other people.
That’s what God saw. God sees the future. He knew that King Agag needed to be killed. All of that stuff needed to be wiped out because they were a terrible people that did awful things and King Saul let them live. And they came back to present a huge problem to God’s people later.
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Kingdom: “You Can Go Your Own Way”
The Bible says that you serve one of two masters. So, for the people out here who think, “I’m not serving the devil. I’m just not living for God.” I hate to break it to you, but you are either living for God or for Satan.
I’m not saying that you are actively participating in Satanic rituals, but either you are living for and pursuing God or you’re not. And if you’re not, then you are on the other team. There is no in-between. There are only two teams. On judgement day there is no in-between. There is heaven and there is hell. There is no land for free agents. There is no land for people that land in the middle. It doesn’t exist.
So, you are on one side or the other.
I saw this on a podcast the other day and thought it was good. There was a discussion about commitment and the guest was giving all kinds of excuses for being on the fence. And the host asked, “Can you be a little pregnant?” and the guest said, “No.” And the host continued, “Exactly! You’re either pregnant or you’re not. You’re either in or your out. You’re either committed or you’re not.”
And it was just this moment of extra clarity. And he’s right. You can’t be a little bit of anything when it comes to living for God. Get in there and do it with all your heart and might. Because you are either in or out. A rebel heart doesn’t have a place in a committed relationship with God. And no, you can’t go your own way and prosper.
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FAQ: “You Can Go Your Own Way”
- Who was King Saul?
- King Saul was the very first king of Israel. He was anointed by Samuel and called by God to lead the Israelites, but he was disobedient.
Check out some of my other walks on YouTube!
Broken Miracles – Mile 74
Suicide.is.not.the.answer. – Mile 361
Is It End Time? – Mile 259
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