Who Asked You?

Too often, people hear my input. Too often, those people were NOT talking to me. Why do I do this? People will be engrossed in their own little conversation that has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with me, and before long, I invite myself into the conversation and chime in. But, who asked me? Not-a-dang-on-body! If I weren't me, it'd be pretty annoying at times. Especially because I'm a know-it-all, which I can imagine makes the whole "butting in" thing even worse.

A perfect example was about a month ago. My cousin, who is now a deacon and has strengthened his faith tremendously, was having a conversation with my sister-in-law. As she sipped a glass from the bottle of wine we shared between our sons' baseball games, he asked her how long she'd been drinking. She responded not too long. He went on to assume it had been since high school. Before she could inform him that our crew didn't consume alcohol until our legal age, I chimed in. No one was talking to me! It was an "A" & "B" conversation, so why didn't I "C" my way out? Granted, the conversation didn't take a hard turn nor did either of them cast me out of the chat, but if I were them, I would have simply thought: Who asked you?

This same thing happens when we talk to God. We have an entire list of what we want to see in our lives.  Give me that promotion God, so I can glorify Your Kingdom. Grant me my husband in the next year so my eggs won't dry up Lord. Keep my baby's mother away from me if she gone keep trippin' God. Heal my mama God, we need her. Fix my financial situation Lord. We layout this endless list of requests and expect them to be fulfilled simply because we said so. But if I'm God, I'm like: Who asked you? When we pray, it's almost as if we are giving God instructions.

Other times, people we love make hard decisions to walk by faith. They do things that we don't understand. The make choices that we don't agree with. We ask a million questions. They try to explain, but they can't because it's beyond their human understanding. We give them unsolicited advice, but they're being guided by God. Yet, we still make our own judgments about what's best for them. We do all this without considering this question: Who asked you?

Finally, things happen in our lives and we feel some type of way. God I don't like this job; but how do we know that God doesn't plan for you to lead some people to Him in that dismal place? God that man is too short to be my husband; but how do we know that this man won't show you the real love you've searched for with every other man before him? God if I can't make this woman happy, then I need a divorce; but how do we know that she isn't the woman who God is planning to use to edify your home and build both you and it for His Kingdom? We have a whole lot to say about everything, but...NOBODY ASKED US!

God didn't ask you before He created the earth. He didn't seek your advice on how to handle the wages of sin. He didn't consult us on the sacrifice of His only begotten son. He didn't take a poll to see how many disciples He should have. He didn't email a Survey Monkey to ask for public opinion on death, hell, and the grave. He didn't ask us!

Every time we utter the Lord's Prayer, we say, "Thy will be done," but we don't always mean it. Whether we like it or not, God has the final say in all things. Instead of praying for what we think should be, we can ask for what we want but couple that with the understanding that His will be done. The we can ask we be made okay with it because we don't always agree or understand His will, but again, AIN'T NOBODY ASKED US! Instead of questioning other people's decisions or their own walk of faith, maybe we could pray for them. We can intercede on their behalf seeking God's will for their lives. As we are given new trials and tests, we need to be mindful that we have little say over the situation because we serve a sovereign God who doesn't ask for our input or opinions. He's going to do what he wants to do. So the next time we find ourselves being opinionated and emotional, butting in on what God has in store, let's ask one another: Who asked you?