Giving Up The Lead

Hosea 14:9

“Who is wise? Let them realize these things.  Who is discerning?  Let them understand.  The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.”

As a cyclist, I am always in awe watching the pros because they can do the same thing I am doing on a bike, but much, much faster. The effort it takes to go that fast is something I can only hold for a minute before my body tells me, “You are not a pro!” They are on a different level for sure, the level that I cannot keep up with.

In verse one of chapter 14, the Lord says, “Your sins have been your downfall!” Frankly, I love it when someone points out the real reason why things have been going south in my life. The friends who fluff me up or play the blame game are like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. You may stop the bleeding, but the real damage goes deep, and that fluff just makes things worse.

As if this is not enough, the Israelites kept returning to the fluff crowd instead of the Lord when things were going badly. They would rather hear false prophets tickle their ears than hear the real reason things are not right: “Your sins have been your downfall!” Tough to hear, but right on.

The more we sin, the more we stumble. The more we sin, the more the ways of the Lord become stumbling blocks for us instead of paths to righteousness. We don’t like stumbling; it hurts and impedes our forward progress. We keep asking ourselves why. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” If you want to stop stumbling, you have to begin fearing the Lord and stop the rebelliousness in your life.

A pastor once said, “You have to give up the lead.” Just like I am no pro cyclist, you are not good at playing God in your own life. You have to realize this in order to move forward with wisdom. In the verse above, it says, “The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.” Are you tired of stumbling? “Your sins have been your downfall!” Don’t wait another day, relying on false idols to ease the pain of life. Turn to the Lord and walk in His ways. If you do, then stumbling will become a thing of the past.

Prayer: Father, help me surrender it all to You. I surrender everything to You because I know I cannot be the person You want me to be without You being in the lead. I give up the lead, Jesus, and give it to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.