Why do we resist God's will?

One of my childhood memories is playing a record entitled "Please, Mr. Custer."   The song was a humorous parody of a reluctant soldier getting ready for the battle at Little Big Horn.  Check You Tube for several visual interpretations of the song.  In the song, the singer laments "Please, Mr. Custer, I don't wanna go. Hey, Mr. Custer, please don't make me go."  He then follows with several excuses for not participating in the upcoming fight.  History is filled with countless illustrations of the struggle between obedience to authority and personal feelings.
In the Bible this struggle begins in Genesis and finds its conclusion in Revelation.  Obedience to God versus man's free will is a consistent theme.  In the book of Jonah we have a classic example of a man who knew God's will for his life and ran from it.  We could change the lyrics of the Mr. Custer song to apply to Jonah.  "Please Mr. God, I don't want to go."

Jonah exemplifies so many people who run from commitment to God. Their reasons vary from fear of failure, criticism, people's expectations, to believing God couldn't use them, or believing their way is better than God's.  The trouble is there are consequences to disregarding God's will for our lives.  Like Jonah, we can't escape God's presence no matter where we run.  Be assured adversity and calamity will come anytime we are out of the will of God.

Why do we resist God when his promise is to equip us and empower us for any task he calls us to do?  How do we overcome that resistance?

Come see us Sunday.  We will talk about that.
Pastor Jeff