What's Your Opinion?

I love getting affirmation from people.  I'm often asking my friends whether or not they agree with on a given topic.  One of my favorite things to say to others is "what's your opinion?"  In fact, I find it really hard to make a decision without the affirmation of a friend or family member.  The question I am wrestling through today, however, is how much I ask, or even care about, God's opinion.

In John 15:5, Christ says, "Apart from me, you can do nothing."  This idea is usually my mentality with my friends or family..."apart from my family, I can do nothing."  Or, "apart from my friends, I can do nothing."    Where does God fit in with all of this?  Do I truly believe that I can do nothing without God?  How much of a role does He really play in my decision making process?

I often look to worldly things to fulfill something that only God can.  It seems good in the moment to ask a friend's advice about a big life decision because she can give me an instant "yes" or "no."  She will rarely say, "hmm, keep asking me every day, and when the time is right, I will give you an answer."  This is appealing to my impatient, worldly mind.  When I go to the Lord for advice, it often involves a lot of silence (see blog post on Quiet), patience, humility, and the possibility that I am not going to like the answer.  Despite all of these things, who do I really want directing my life: a friend who is just as sinful as I am, or the God of the universe, my Creator who is "familiar with all my ways"(Psalm 139:3).  I am embarrassed at how quickly I forget this truth.  My heart is so focused on immediate gratification that I ignore the very reason for which I am here, which is to humbly follow the Lord wherever He leads.  May I learn to go to the Lord first, to seek His will, to be excited about waiting for His guidance.  It is, in fact, in waiting for the Lord's response that true growth in one's relationship with Christ happens.  Waiting on God is something I have never regretted in the long run.

Here is an excerpt from Spurgeon's devotional book, Morning and Evening.  It talks about going to God with every decision much better than my words :)

"You cannot without the Spirit-"Without me ye can do nothing."  O branch of the vine, thou canst have no fruit without the sap!  O child of God, thou hast no life within thee apart from the life which God gives thee through his Spirit!  Then let us not grieve him or provoke him to anger by our sin.  Let us not quench him in one of his faintest motions in our soul; let us foster every suggestion, and be ready to obey every prompting.  If the Holy Spirit be indeed so mighty, let us attempt nothing without him; let us begin no project, and carry on no enterprise, and conclude no transaction, without imploring his blessing."