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Do You Seek God’s Heart or His Hand?

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After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Genesis 15:1 NKJV

Most of us struggle to realize that God Himself is our reward. We long for the things we believe He can give us. After all, we have desperate needs. But we often keep God at a distance.

Ten lepers met Jesus in a village as He journeyed between Samaria and Galilee. Luke 17:12 tells us they stood at a distance as they cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (verse 13). Jesus responded with an unusual request.

When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. (verse 14)

Place yourself in the scene, dear one. Ten lepers—outcasts because of their condition—had heard about a healer from Nazareth. Hope stirred their weary hearts. Maybe—just maybe—He could fix their problem. If He did what the stories promised He could, their lives would change forever. Healing meant they could reenter society. They’d return to their families.

They would live again.

They weren’t disappointed. Jesus answered their hope with direction. He told them to show themselves to the priests.

That might seem an odd request to you and me, but according to Old Testament Law, lepers could only return to living among their people if the priest declared them clean. By sending the lepers to present themselves to the priest, Jesus had declared their healing.

But I’d like you to notice something. He sent them away before they were healed.

When those ten men departed from Jesus, their skin still oozed from open sores.

And as they went they were cleansed. (verse 14)

Can you even imagine how they must have felt? Still bearing the marks of their defiled condition, they departed from Jesus in obedient faith. With each step toward the priests, they left behind their sickness and moved toward healing. By the time they reached them, they were completely cleansed.

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” (verses 15-19)

My heart stirs with the same question Jesus asked that day. Where are the other nine?

Jesus drastically changed the lives of ten men that day, yet only one of them thanked Him. Only one returned to look upon his Savior. Only one fell on his face at Jesus’ feet.

And only one will rise in glory when Christ returns. “… your faith has made you well.”

 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. Psalm 149:4

Beloved, nine received an external cleansing and were satisfied. Only one believed Jesus worthy of honor for restoring his body, and he received the greater work. Jesus also healed him on the inside.

You see, his position had changed. This Samaritan started out just like all the other lepers. They all stood at a distance (verse 12), crying out to Jesus in desperate physical need. But even after Jesus healed them, the other nine remained there.

Nine had no desire for Jesus’ presence. They just wanted His blessing. They didn’t want Him. So they received their healing and went on their way as though they’d never met Him.

But one couldn’t stay away. With praise on his lips, he immediately turned toward the One who had healed his body. And he offered himself. He fell on his face before Him, close enough to touch His feet. Distance no longer defined his relationship to the Healer. And that made him more than well. It made him whole.

Have you come close to Jesus, dear one? Do you seek His presence? Or do you seek His hand?

Most of us seek God for external works. We want Him to heal our finances, our marriages, our bodies. But we don’t really want Him. We aren’t willing to fall on our faces. We just want to take from His hands and get on with living our lives.

We want what He can do, but we don’t desire Him.

Jesus is the reward, dear one. He’s the treasure. Seek Him as one, beloved, and you’ll experience what the leper did. He will make you well.

 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Matthew 13:45-46

God Chooses to Need You

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And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Isaiah 6:8

God never moves without partnering with people. Yep, that’s what I said.

The enemy would have us believe that God will just do what He wants to do anyway so you and I don’t have to pay attention. We can just do what we want.

But that isn’t what scripture demonstrates. I challenge you to find an occurrence in God’s Word where He intervened to bring deliverance without involving people—either by acts of faith or through prayer.

Even the birth of Jesus involved human cooperation. A betrothed virgin heard the word of the Lord proclaimed through the angel Gabriel and became an earthly conduit of God’s power as her heart came into agreement with God.

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38

God doesn’t move without involving people. He can, but He chooses not to. Instead, He waits for willing vessels who will cooperate with Him to release His power.

A few weeks ago, we discovered why that is. God gave dominion of the earth to man, and He never goes back on His Word.

What does that mean for you and me, dear one?

We will see God move as we listen at His gates, discern what He is speaking, and agree with Him through prayer and obedient faith. When we do that, we become gatekeepers (John 10:3), releasing the will and power of God to intervene on this earth.

That’s the authority God gave to man before the fall, and that Christ bought back for the church through the cross. You and I are supposed to partner with God to release His will and hold back the work of the enemy.

In the fifth chapter of James, God challenges us to pray. Verse 16 declares,

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Immediately after making that declaration, scripture draws our attention to Elijah.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. James 5:17-18

The prophet Elijah was a gatekeeper who drew near to God and allowed God to work powerfully through him. Let’s take a look at the passage James refers to.

In 1 Kings 17:1, Elijah made a surprising claim to Ahab, King of Israel.

“As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

Pretty bold, don’t you think? Elijah stands before Israel’s king and predicts a drought. What would finally bring the rain? Elijah’s word, the word of a man.

Now you and I both know Elijah alone didn’t have the power to stop and start the rain. What he did have, however, was a relationship with a God who speaks. Elijah simply listened and agreed with what God said. What Elijah spoke to Ahab originated in the revealed will of God.

Let’s see how God finally brought the rain.

After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” 1 Kings 18:1

Three years into the drought, God spoke to Elijah. Essentially He said, “You do this, and I will do this.”

Elijah had to come out of hiding and confront Ahab. When he did, God promised to send the rain.

Elijah trusted God and did as he was told. He confronted Ahab with his idolatry, putting the prophets of Baal to a test against the God of Israel. As Elijah called upon God to come and consume his drenched sacrifice, he said,

“… let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.” 1 Kings 18:36

Elijah’s obedience unleashed the power of God, bringing fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice. Afterward, Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain” (1 Kings 18:41).

Three years without rain, and finally Elijah tells Ahab it’s time to celebrate because rain is on its way.

Well, that’s what God said, isn’t it? Elijah had done his part. Now he can just sit back and watch God move, right? But that isn’t what he does. Let’s read verse 42.

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees.

Immediately upon leaving Ahab, Elijah climbs to a mountaintop and begins to pray. And he continues to pray, until his eyes see that what God had already told him would happen had come to pass.

Why the need for prayer, dear one? Because God gave us authority on earth and has chosen to work through people.

It makes perfect sense, really. God always moves through the relationship He designed us for. In order to work through us, He needs us close.

God revealed to Elijah what He desired to do. It was then up to Elijah to open the gate and release it on this earth through prayer.

I wonder, dear one. What does God desire to do through you?