I will avoid the pitfall of being a formula Christian. I am surrounded by literature that promises me the secret of victory, as if God can be reduced to a method. Everywhere I turn I discover “steps to this” and “steps to that.” Christians who are privileged to share a new insight of God are quick to build it into a formula.
I must avoid all that. I must keep in mind Paul’s expression: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33, KJV).
God will not let Himself be boxed into a recipe. How often I have discovered that when I attempted to use someone else’s formula, it did not work for me. God’s dealings with us are strictly personal. There are general principles, of course, but the application is ad hominem (“to the man”). That’s why someone else’s spiritual secret is a mystery to me.
Neither can I say with Archimedes, “I have found it!” God’s timely deliverance for me today will not necessarily be His deliverance tomorrow. God is constantly trying to tell me that He will not be nailed down. Yet I find something in my nature that keeps on trying to do that very thing. Why do I feel I have to manage God? Is there a little god within me who must have his property, his domain, his castle?
God will disappoint my every effort to corner Him, for He will be servant to no man. Even those who know Him best find Him a stranger at times. That is why my warmest prayer sometimes will meet the coldest response and my deepest need will go unsatisfied. Not often, of course, but often enough to remind me that God must be God. Yet, through it all, “I will never leave thee” (Hebrews 13:5, KJV) rings loud and clear. That is because God’s stake in my salvation is great.
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” (Romans 11:33).
Daily with the King 