You have not because you ask not

“without consulting Me” Isaiah 30:2

Consulting – Have you asked?  Don’t be so quick to answer.  Consider (Jesus liked that word).  The prophet Isaiah speaks God’s words in the first few verses of chapter 30.  What is God’s complaint?  You haven’t asked.  How does He know?  Because you “execute a plan, but it is not Mine.”

Human beings are the last to ask.  We want God to point us in a direction, but we would rather carry out the process of getting there by ourselves.  We get a vision or a goal and then we say, “OK God, I’ll take it from here.  Thanks for the help”.  But God does not work like the occasional consultant.  He doesn’t arrive just to show you where you need to go.  He is there to carry you through each step.  If you are executing your plan, don’t be surprised to hear Him warn you.

We are not saved for doing.  We are saved for asking.  Even our language diverts us.  “What will you do now?” we ask.  We would be better served with the question, “What do you hear now?”    We act instead of listening.

Sha’al is the Hebrew verb for asking.  It is used over and over to describe men and women coming before God for His answers to their issues.  Sha’al is a verb of responsive assumption.  What good is it to ask and then walk away before I get the answer?  When I inquire of God, I am expected to listen to what He says.  To ask without expecting a reply, to act without hearing the response is utter foolishness.  That’s why sha’al is often translated “beseech”.  That’s why Hannah’s prayer is the epitome of asking (1 Samuel 2).  Pleading with God isn’t popular these days.  We have the “one-minute of silent requests” version of sha’al.  How much pleading can you do in one minute?  Would you only ask for one minute in front of the traffic judge, the IRS or the police detective?  How pathetic is our “five minutes of devotion” allocation?  Is that pleading?  Can you unburden your heart in five minutes?  Do you want only five minutes with the doctor when he says you have cancer?  Do you take only five minutes with the accountant to determine the health of your business?  Is your Board meeting terminated after five minutes?

Do you know why we don’t plead with God?  Because we don’t really expect an answer!  If we really believed that God was waiting to give us answers, would we be content to leave before we got one?  How many plans are you executing that did not come from consulting Him?