A temptation that I am susceptible to is thinking that God needs me and my actions to turn back the tide of darkness in the world. I recently read a quote from Charles Spurgeon that I found very helpful:
"God is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything--because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else! Let no man imagine that God needs any of us. He was perfect--perfectly happy and perfectly glorious--long before wing of angel moved in space, or time even existed! God ever was and still is self-contained and all-sufficient. If He chooses to make any creatures or to preserve or use any of the creatures He has formed--it is not because He needs them, or is in the least degree dependent upon them.
"I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills! I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine! If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine and all that is in it!" (Psalm 50:9-12).
"Who has ever given to God, that God should repay Him? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen" (Romans 11:35-36).
I found this very encouraging. God does not need us. When faced with the evil in the world, God does not depend on us to stop it. He does not leave it in our hands or stand by helplessly as we struggle on our own. As the Scriptures above so clearly state, He is the one in control, and Him alone.
So in light of this, why are we called to obey? Why do we even bother? The answer is incredibly simple. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
Obedience equals love. We obey God because we love God. Not because we need to solve the world's problems, and not because there is this great emergency. We obey God in wartime just as we obey God in peace. Out of love for Him.
When we look beyond the tumultuous waves of the immediate and keep our eyes set on the God we love to serve, we will become an army of unsullied, unshaken, unashamed brothers and sisters who walk through the fire and storm, lighting up the darkness of the world with the righteousness and love of God. Like Peter on the water, we should not heed the chaos but carry on walking with Christ.
