A few years ago Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll preached a sermon series on the book of Esther with the tagline: God’s Perfect Work through Imperfect People.  Now regardless of what you think about Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill, it was a fantastic sermon series and the tagline perfectly embodies much of my life and the lives of others.  After 10 years of devotion to Jesus and spiritual growth, I am often frustrated by my shortcomings, my poor-attitude (at times), and my inability to make it work.  My desire is to be a good husband, a good father, and a good friend but even in that I can’t do it; and often times I focus on the problems instead of the solution.

The Snare

For those of you who are hunters you’ve probably used a snare before and have a knowledge of how they work.  For the rest of us a snare is a means of catching and killing small animals in the wild for food.  There are various methods of snaring, but the end result is always to trap and strangle the prey.  The more the animal struggles, the tighter the snare gets (sorry to our animal lovers).  Perfection and Self-Reliance are a lot like that.  They are traps that we are bated toward and are caught in, often times by our own volition.  The more we struggle against them, the tighter their grip becomes.

Romans 3:23

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.

I invite your prayers for me as I seek the Lord first through this, and invite you to look into your own life to see where you are trying to go it alone.  Where are you frustrated?  Where are you forgetting to acknowledge Him?