What Are You Doing Here?
In my life, I have done much long distance traveling by car and the best way for me to get from one place to another is by using a road map. Even then, sometimes a wrong turn has been taken and after while I have begun to wonder where I am. Or then I thought I was on the right road, but after awhile I end up somewhere completely different than I expected and I ask myself in frustration, “What am I doing here?” It takes time to retrace my steps and get back on the right road. There are times I really thought I was on the right road, but in the end I was not.
Is this not how it happens in our Christian walk also? The wicked know that they are on the road to destruction, but what about the righteous? Are you sure you are on the right road? Solomon once said, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] the ways of death.” Prov. 14:12. Are you on the road of your own choosing? Have you entered the road, asking God’s help along the way without asking God’s direction?
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2 Cor. 13:5 We are to turn a critical eye upon ourselves. Are we genuine Christians? Every follower of Christ can profitably examine his own life each day. If we would be more critical of ourselves, we would be less critical of others. We need to work together to make sure we are all on the right road, lest we discourage someone and they turn back to another road.
Where are you going? What are you doing? We need to ask this question of ourselves regularly.
Pilate: Pilate was in a position of uncertainty. He was trying to decide in his mind, which was the right road to go down. He even received a warning from God through a dream to his wife as to which was the right way. “Pilate longed to deliver Jesus. But he saw that he could not do this, and yet retain his own position and honour. Rather than lose his worldly power, he chose to sacrifice an innocent life. How many, to escape loss or suffering, in like manner sacrifice principle. Conscience and duty point one way, and self-interest points to another. The current sets strongly in the wrong direction, and he who compromises with evil are swept away into the thick darkness of guilt. his life. He chose the wrong path and ended up exactly where he was trying to avoid ending up. God can see the end from the beginning. He knows what is at the end of the road you are travelling on and if it is not the right road, He may stop you to ask you what you are doing there.
Is that not how it is with us? We see that maybe God is directing us one way, but we just can’t see how everything will work out. We see only loss and disaster ahead. We feel we have to go another way in order to save ourselves much trouble, but in the end the trouble that we tried to avoid comes upon us. God knew the best.
“Pilate yielded to the demands of the mob. Rather than risk losing his position, he delivered Jesus up to be crucified. But in spite of his precautions, the very thing he dreaded afterward came upon him. His honours were stripped from him, he was cast down from his high office, and, stung by remorse and wounded pride, not long after the crucifixion he ended his own life. So all who compromise with sin will gain only sorrow and ruin. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Prov. 14:12. DA 738. He had no faith in God to direct at least seem to be proper under the circumstances. The warning is against trusting to the guidance of the conscience without checking the conscience constantly against the teaching of the Word of God. Many men have persuaded themselves that God will accept a substitute for His precise requirements, only to find that they have lost all. Pilate presents an outstanding example. While he was probably not familiar with the written word, the living Word Himself instructed him by voice and example. The governor thought that he could compromise with evil and still retain his wealth and position, but his compromise led to disgrace and death.
This is also what Jacob did. He thought he was trying to help God. He knew that the birthright was his according to the angel’s promise to his mother at his birth, however he felt he had to travel the road of deception and deceit in order to bring about God’s will. That ended in a 20-year separation from his father and he never saw his mother again. His way was not the right way.
Sometimes we may think we are in the right place or doing the right thing but God has to stop us and ask us what we are doing there and help us to consider which is the right way.
Elijah thought he needed some quiet meditation with God alone on Mt. Horeb, after the exhilarating experience on Mt. Carmel. But when he got there the Lord asked him, “What are you doing here Elijah?”
“God met His tried servant with the inquiry, “Whatdoest thou here, Elijah? I sent you to the brook Cherith and afterward to the widow of Sarepta. I commissioned you to return to Israel and to stand before the idolatrous priests on Carmel, and I girded you with strength to guide the chariot of the king to the gate of Jezreel. But who sent you on this hasty flight into the wilderness? What errand have you here?” PK 168. He thought he had every right to be there because he was fleeing the presence of Queen Jezebel who was seeking his life. However that is not where God wanted him to be. God still had work for him to do and so He set Elijah on the right way.
Other times we know we are in the wrong….
Jonah was asked by God to do a duty that he found distasteful so he ran the other way. “If, when the call first came to him, Jonah had stopped to consider calmly, he might have known how foolish would be any effort on his part to escape the responsibility placed upon him. But not for long was he permitted to go on undisturbed in his mad flight.” PK 267 When he was in the ship during the storm I am sure God was wondering, “What are you doing here Jonah – I sent you to Nineveh?” In humility and repentance, in the whale’s belly, he turned back to the way God wanted him to go.
Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord after they sinned. “In their innocence and holiness they had joyfully welcomed the approach of their Creator; but now they fled in terror, and sought to hide in the deepest recesses of the garden. But “the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” pp 57
This is so true with many when they have sinned. They try to hide from the Lord. But the “eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Prov. 15:3. “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Num. 32:23. Then the Lord will ask, “What are you doing here?” “What have you done?” Then the excuses come like it was with Adam and Eve.
We need to confess our sin when it is found out like David did. He repented bitterly of his sin with Bathsheba when Nathan the prophet revealed to him God’s displeasure.
God sometimes asks us other questions. He asked Cain, “Where is Abel thy brother?” Gen. 4:9 After Cain killed Abel he tried to hide from the presence of the Lord, but the Lord found him and punished him. “Again the Lord said to Cain, “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground.” God had given Cain an opportunity to confess his sin. He had had time to reflect. He knew the enormity of the deed he had done, and of the falsehood he had uttered to conceal it; but he was rebellious still, and sentence was no longer deferred. The divine voice that had been heard in entreaty and admonition pronounced the terrible words: “And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shall thou be in the earth.”” PP 77
Other times we have no idea why we are where we are – we’re just running with no direction in mind.
Hagar fled from Sarah when Sarah was being harsh on her and in the wilderness the Lord asked her, “What are you doing here Hagar?” “And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence earnest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.” Gen.6:8 She had no idea where she was fleeing to, but God found her and gave her directions as to where she should go from that point in time.
” ‘When Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.’ She made her way to the desert, and as she rested beside a fountain, lonely and friendless, an angel of the Lord, in human form, appeared to her. Addressing her as “Hagar, Sarai’s maid,” to remind her of her position and her duty, he bade her, “Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.” Yet with the reproof there were mingled words of comfort. “The Lord hath heard thy affliction.” “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.” And as a perpetual reminder of His mercy, she was bidden to call her child Ishmael, “God shall hear.” PP 145/6
When we feel despondent and without hope – and we try to flee from reality, the Lord is very near. If we only turn to Him we will find the direction we are looking for.
Sometimes we want to do something good, but God says ‘NO’. King David wanted to build the temple of the Lord, but God said ‘no’. Why? It seemed like a good project and a very self-sacrificing one. Sometimes we want to do good things but God says ‘no’, because it is not according to His will. We are not the right person for the project.
“David knew that it would be an honour to his name and would bring glory to his government to perform the work that he had purposed in his heart to do, but he was ready to submit his will to the will of God. The JH! grateful resignation thus j, *,* manifested is rarely seen, even among Christians. How often do those who have passed the strength of manhood cling to the hope of accomplishing some great work upon which their hearts are set, but which they are unfitted to perform! God’s providence may speak to them, as did His prophet to David, declaring that the work, which they so much desire, is not committed to them. It is theirs to prepare the way for another to accomplish it. But instead of gratefully submitting to the divine direction, many fall back as if slighted and rejected, feeling that if they cannot do the one thing, which they desire to do, they will do nothing. Many cling with desperate energy to responsibilities which they are incapable of bearing, and vainly endeavour to accomplish a work for which they are insufficient, while that which they might do, lies neglected. And because of this lack of co-operation on their part the greater work is hindered or frustrated.” PP 71II13.
“In deciding upon any course of action we are not to ask whether we can see that harm will result from it, but whether it is in keeping with the will of God.” PP 634
That is why it is so important to ask God’s direction in every matter of life. Everywhere we go, every project we undertake. It is better to know God’s will ahead of time than make mistakes and have God come to us and ask us, “What are you doing?”
Backtracking is hard work – best to be doing God’s will in the first place. What a lot of trouble would have been saved if Jonah had gone when God first asked him to go.
Has God come to you asking you, “What are you doing here?” Are you where God wants you to be?
Jesus knew perfectly well where He had come from and where He was going, but He decided to go there anyway. He could have come down from the cross, turned His back on you and I, and left us to die in our sins. But He chose to submit to the will of God and died to His fallen Human nature so that you and I could be saved. That was true submission. We need to submit ourselves to God in like manner.
We need direction in our lives and God can give us the best direction if we ask Him to be the ruler of our lives.
Sometimes going where the Lord wants us to go requires a cross, but beyond the cross there is a crown to be won. May God help us each to know what God’s purpose is for our lives and what direction He wants us to take, making sure we are on the right road.
AMEN