When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” John 21:21-22
“One of the hardest lessons to learn comes from our stubborn refusal to refrain from interfering in other people’s lives. It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interfering with God’s plan for others. You see someone suffering and say, “He will not suffer, and I will make sure that he doesn’t.” You put your hand right in front of God’s permissive will to stop it, and then God says, “What is that to you?” Is there stagnation in your spiritual life? Don’t allow it to continue, but get into God’s presence and find out the reason for it.
You will possibly find it is because you have been interfering in the life of another — proposing things you had no right to propose, or advising when you had no right to advise. When you do have to give advice to another person, God will advise through you with the direct understanding of His Spirit. Your part is to maintain the right relationship with God so that His discernment can come through you continually for the purpose of blessing someone else.
Most of us live only within the level of consciousness — consciously serving and consciously devoted to God. This shows immaturity and the fact that we’re not yet living the real Christian life. Maturity is produced in the life of a child of God on the unconscious level, until we become so totally surrendered to God that we are not even aware of being used by Him. When we are consciously aware of being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, we have yet another level to reach — a level where all awareness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us is completely eliminated. A saint is never consciously a saint — a saint is consciously dependent on God.”
Oswald Chambers in My Utmost For His Highest (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1963) reading for November 15.
Yesterday’s post included the word “utmost” so that made me think of My Utmost For His Highest and inspired me to see what Oswald Chambers had to say about providence for the last day of 2017. The Spirit has saved the best for last! This reading is a gift for all those who desire to press on to maturity in their generosity.
Are you an amateur providence? I can think of many occasions when this has been true of me. In those times, our actions are not a fruit of the spirit but a fruit of our flesh. Instead we must attune to God and follow Jesus in obedience so that His discernment flows through us continually by the Holy Spirit to guide us in blessing others.
Notice how to avoid amateur providence. We must remain consciously dependent on God. No wonder Jesus said to let go of money. When we hold on to it, we depend on ourselves and the resources we can muster rather than God. Obedience and dependence on God is the only way to live a generous life that exhibits divine providence and glorifies Him.