Lord, let me help you.

Let's face it.  We women like to help. That's really why were created in the first place!  As a wife, we are "help"meets for our husband.  As a Momma our days are filled with helping! (like today when my potty training two year old put a washcloth down the toilet and flushed it) and sometimes we women even like to help at matchmaking.  He he.

But, when it comes to the Lord, we often carry our quality of being helpful too far, and we try to help God.  I read about a woman like that this morning.  Beautiful Rebekah finds herself married and far from home.  Then, she finds out she is pregnant.  She learns she is carrying twins and they are quite active!  In fact Genesis 25:22 tells us that the "children struggled together within her."  This must have been more than the normal kick and nudge from a baby in the womb because she asked the Lord why it was so?  The Lord gave her a glimpse into the future and let her know that her older baby would serve the younger.

Now, fast forward some years.  Rebekah's husband is dying and as was the custom he was to give his blessing to one of his children and called for his eldest and favorite, Esau.  Rebekah, knowing what the Lord had told her about her younger son, decided to "help" God.  She used deceit and tricked her eldest son and her husband.  She thought she was helping God out, but in the end she caused even more division between her two sons that caused Jacob to have to flee for his life. Just think of the influence she had on Jacob.  I wonder where he learned to be such a trickster?  I'm sure there was some division caused in her marriage as well.  And by Jacob fleeing, she robbed herself of seeing him for at least 20 years.

Did God need her help?  Of course not. I wonder how things would have turned out if she had let God handle the situation.  I'm afraid that we often want to "help" the Lord out, too, and often make a mess of things.  There's two in particular that I'm thinking of:

~We try to "help" and be the Holy Spirit to our husbands.  You know how it is...you see something that you don't particularly like, or think he should do.  When I take it upon my self to nag and fuss and bring out a spiritual reason as to why he should _______ (you can fill in the blank), it can cause a division.  Now, of course, we need to communicate to our husbands our desires and wishes.  But, we need to be careful of how we communicate and when we should just let God handle the situation.  I learned early in my marriage that if I communicate a desire to my husband and he just doesn't agree, I can always go above his head and pray to God.  It's amazing the results!  Either the Lord will change my husband's heart on the matter, or I will realize how petty and silly I was being.  God sure does know how to handle it best!

~We try to "help" God when we pray.  My sister and I were talking about this not too long ago.  Sometimes, if we're not careful, our prayer time can be filled with us telling God how things should go and how He could make them happen.  Sometimes I have the situation down perfect!  "God if you would just let this happen, then this person do this, then the end result would be perfect!"  How foolish that can be.   It reminds me of Proverbs 3:5, "lean not unto thine own understanding."  The Lord's way is perfect and He truly does know best!

  I wonder how things would have turned out if Rebekah had let God handle the situation.  Sometimes it's not so easy to "Let go and Let God."  But, the rewards of a trusting heart have an amazing impact on our situation and the lives of those we truly want to help.