Have you ever thought “You’re not the boss of me!” when someone made a demand of you? Well, if that someone was anyone else other than God, you were correct in your thinking. But, before you go running off and telling off your earthly boss to jump in a lake, read further to hear how God is your Ultimate Boss. God is our Master and serving Him happens when we serve others and point them to Jesus. Yes, including your boss.

This blog is one in a journey of a Getting to Know God series. The names and attributes of God are adapted from a guide on the Navigators website called 30 Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God. Today’s blog corresponds with the 29th day – God is Adonai.

Today our name of God is Adonai. Our Navigators’ Guide says this for today: “God is Adonai. This name of God means “Master” or “Lord.” God, our Adonai, calls all God’s people to acknowledge themselves as His servants, claiming His right to reign as Lord of our lives.”

Our verses for today are:

2 Samuel 7:18-20 (NIV)

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: “Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human! What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign Lord.”

I think for today our scripture would be even more meaningful if we knew the context from which it was written. This is a prayer of David that comes following an amazing blessing from God which he received BEFORE his deep walk into sin with Bathsheba. If we look back two verses we catch the tag-end of the blessing in 2 Samuel verse 16 where God said to David;

‘Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’

First, of note, is that God was blessing David before his deep season of sin. David was a “man after God’s own heart” and yet he took a walk far into the darkness of sin. He lusted after another man’s wife, committed adultery, plotted to cover it up and finally ended his dance in the darkness of sin with murder.

Wow! It can be easy for us to see the figures of the Bible in an all too “holy” light but this story shows us the ugly underbelly of an amazing God filled man. It should serve as both a comfort and a warning to us.

First, this story is a comfort in that we are NEVER out of reach of our great Lord and Savior. I don’t know about anyone else, but I struggled for years feeling unworthy of God’s love. I bought the lie that I had sinned too deeply to be worthy of His forgiveness and it weighed on my heart and mind so heavily that I struggled with depression my ENTIRE life. This story comforts me because it proves there is no “too far” with God. No matter what I have done or how far I have strayed, I have a God who will ALWAYS welcome me back with forgiveness and open arms. That gives me great comfort.

Additionally, I receive deep peace in my soul when I contemplate the timing of God blessing David with this everlasting covenant. God KNEW the depth of sin into which David would walk and yet He gave him this ENORMOUS promise beforehand. This indicates and confirms to me that, regardless of where I have been, God offers me His promise of everlasting fulfillment, if I choose to walk with Him.

Secondly, this story serves as a warning. We should never think we are above and out of reach of sin. If a man as greatly filled with God and so deeply in touch with His Presence can fall into that deep pit of sin, so can we. The enemy prowls around just waiting to devour us so we need to keep our guard up at all times. We need to seek and ask God to help us to continue to turn our eyes to Him and away from temptation.

Now for the Adonai focus part of our day. God is our Master and as such we were created to serve Him. Actually, it is only in our serving of Him that we can truly find peace in our walk in this world. Serving God fills that whole inside you and nothing else will do the trick. Take note, God did not create us because He needed us to serve Him, He created us because He loves us and we bring Him Joy. He is the Lord of our lives, which were bought and paid for with the righteous blood of His Son, and as such we serve Him out of gratitude for our salvation.

Now for the tough question of the day…are you serving God as your Master and if not, are you ready to make the commitment to do so? I believe that we can only find true peace during our walks in this world through serving Him because it was the reason we were made. Now, serving Him does not mean you need to quit your job and devote yourself to full time ministry. Serving Him means listening for His direction for your life and choosing to walk with Him wherever He may lead you. Each of us can serve Him RIGHT where we are in life. We should never underestimate the power of God to work through us as we walk with Him.

You might be serving God from a customer service position by treating all your customers with love and respect, regardless of how they treat you. That godly treatment of others reflects the light of Jesus to them. You might be the CEO leading the most cash-rich company in the world and you are serving God by operating your company with integrity and grace. This, too, gives a powerful example of Jesus to others. Be assured, we can serve God from any place in our lives and should not assume that because of our circumstances we are unable to reflect Jesus to others.

I guess the bottom line to me about serving God is that we can serve Him anywhere and everywhere, if we so choose. Do you feel like you are serving Him? Is He your true Master or are you more fascinated by money or technology or television or status? If you do not feel like you are serving God, I encourage you to do some soul searching, through prayerful time with God and time in God’s Word, to discern how you can make some different choices and begin to make changes to your life to serve Him.

I guarantee that if you begin making choices to serve God, you will be deeply blessed, regardless of your life circumstances. Walking with God as your Adonai and serving Him will fill you with His Spirit which will bring you love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I don’t know about you but I NEED that indwelling of the Holy Spirit to function in this world and I desire to serve my Adonai with all my heart.

Blessings and love,
Pamela