A powerful verse from one of God’s minor prophets set me to reflecting about the past and thinking about the present.

Obad 21b … and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

When we were kids there was a hill just outside of town where we used to play King of the Hill. It was a battle of the strongest to see who could maintain control of the apex of that great “mountain.” In reading Obadiah the other morning I was taken back to those days and the many times that I was knocked back down while trying to take that mountain… and of the many times I just got back up and tried it again. And it got me to thinking about how that process mirrors our life sometimes… we want to be king!

I remembered something I had read about this very challenge from Lloyd Ogilvie. He was remembering this very game and a friend of his who could never make it to the top, no matter how hard he tried. So he just marked off a small spot off the side of the hill and would shout to everyone around him… It’s not very big, but it’s mine!

Don’t we all do that sometimes? We carve out a little place for ourselves where we feel that we are in complete control… that we own all that is around us. And we forget that the kingdom shall be the Lords. It all belongs to Him and no one will take it from him. He will never relinquish even the small part of His kingdom that we claim as ours. It’s when we try to stake out our domain on the side of God’s hill that we get into trouble. We insist on doing things the way we have always done them… our way!

And in that process we forget that God is the one who provides us the strength and wisdom to climb the mountains in our life. He is the One who opens doors and closes doors but we frequently  try to open those that are closed or put our toe in to keep some from closing. We forget in our climb to become king of our own personal mountain that as the bride of Christ we are in the kingdom of God to do the King’s will. And the only way we can accomplish that is if we stay in close communion with the King in order to know what He wants, when He wants it, and how He wants it done. But we will never accomplish that if we continue to carve out our comfortable spot on the side of the mountain and continually shout to the world around us that… It’s not very big, but it’s mine!

The solution, however, is always the same… it begins with prayer. But not prayer to try and get God to help us keep our little enclave. It’s prayer that seeks the wisdom and strength to accomplish what He wants to get done. And that means spending a lot of time listening for His orders every morning and throughout the day.

Just remember… God inspires what He desires!