There is a very important question in the four words in the title of this post. Let me make those words a bit more personal. Are YOU acting on your own? Are you doing something, important, in your own mind anyway, or made a decision to do something, on your own, without God?

If you have then whatever it is, it is most likely a mistake, and it could cost you. It could be any major decision, like buying a house, a car, changing jobs, or deciding to have a relationship with another person, one that could lead to marriage. You decide any of those things without God and disaster could be the result.

When did we humans decide we don’t need or don’t believe that God wants the best for us? When did we decide we don’t need to ask for his guidance or don’t want it or don’t trust Him when He provides it? When did we decide that we know better than Him?

When did we become so blind? When did we become blind to our blindness? How do we find it so easy to live with our inability to see how blind we really are? We find it too easy to become offended when someone points out we can’t see our weakness, our poor decision, our failure.

We can’t make our way through life without Him, and we certainly can’t die without him. Unlike us, nothing takes God by surprise. Nothing happens that makes him say “Oops, I shouldn’t have done that!” He always knows what is coming, He rules over all, including our wrong choices which he allows us to make. The sad thing is sometimes he tells us what to do, and we don’t want to do it, and then we try something on our own. How dumb is that?

There was a time when the children of Isreal after spending weeks, not years, in the desert, found themselves within sight of, Canaan, the land that God had promised them. Moses and his council sent twelve spies into the land. Ten came back with a negative report of what they had seen. Two did not. The ten had seen giants and were convinced those giants were undefeatable. The land could not be taken. The two spies, Joshua and Caleb, had different opinion, one that was based on their faith in God. They said that God would deliver those giants into their hands, that with him leading the way, they could occupy the land, after all, God had promised this and he keeps his promises. They would not be acting on their own. “Who cares if Giants are in the land? God is on our side and we cannot be defeated!”

They were voted down, the majority ruled and they let fear drive out faith. They on their own, decided to not even attempt to take the land. God didn’t care for their lack of faith and so he gave them want they wanted, to be on their own, and stay in the desert until they died.

They obviously were blind to the total consequences of this decision, and didn’t think where they would end up if they didn’t take God up on his promise. They didn’t like his new promise either so many who voted against fighting the giants with God leading the way charged into the promised land. They didn’t want to take on the Giants with him, but now thought they could do it without him, and as a result, they all died, killed by the very giants they were afraid of. God would have taken care of that. Sadly, these men had more faith in their own decisions and their own self-guidance. Instead of that provided by God. They were too blind to see the two decisions they made were both very bad. They missed the mark and missed out on God’s blessing. Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, had to suffer part of the consequences, they roamed in the desert until the unbelieving generation passed away but then they saw God’s promise fulfilled.

Which group of folks would you, me, have been in? Which group are we in now? The believing group who realizes that God is our Shepard, and we need him and want him to lead us, or the blind, faithless group who thinks we can make it through life, sometimes just part-time, on our own?

I recently had an opportunity to make a huge decision. I prayed but I hesitated, not sure of God’s guidance. I may not have prayed hard enough, I was not sure of God, and then it was too late. My wife like Joshua, now finds herself, along with me, living in a bit of a spiritual desert. It is a bit tough, now, but I know that will ultimately God will provide our next path. (And He did just that!)

This is the oldest psalm in the Bible, it was written just after God turned his children back into the desert because of their lack of faith in Him.

Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses the man of God.

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
    or you brought forth the whole world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn people back to dust,
    saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
4 A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.
5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
    they are like the new grass of the morning:
6 In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.

7 We are consumed by your anger
    and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
    we finish our years with a moan.
10 Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
12 Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
    Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
    that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
    your splendor to their children.

17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us—
    yes, establish the work of our hands.