What Can I Do?

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 1 Samuel 12:23

Being outspoken about my own addiction, I’m regularly approached by those who’re struggling with some addiction of their own. What do I do? Probably just as often though, I’m approached by the loved ones of those who’re struggling. What can I do for them? It’s a helpless feeling – to watch a loved one self-destruct. We want so badly to make them get sober, but we can’t. We can’t have faith for others, and we can’t recover for them. So, what can we do?

This, I think, was the plight of Israel’s prophets like Samuel in today’s passage. Tasked by God to be the spiritual leader of a wayward people, being a prophet had to be a lot like being a parent of rebellious children – hundreds of thousands of rebellious children. In the passage, Samuel commanded his people to repent of their sin and return to God. He implored them to abandon their self-destructive appetites so they could follow God’s will instead of their own. Samuel knew he couldn’t do this for them. That didn’t mean though, that he was absolved of all responsibility. It was still his job to live rightly, pray for his people, and to point them in the right direction. Whether they followed or not wasn’t his responsibility. He was only responsible for doing right himself, which meant praying for the Israelites, continually pointing them to God.

There are few burdens that weigh as heavily on our hearts as watching our loved ones struggle. It’s maddening to sit back and helplessly observe one bad decision after another. In our sadness and frustration though, we must always remember our responsibility. What can I do? Daily, we must live rightly ourselves, abandoning our own self-destructive behavior. Daily, we must take time to connect with God, taking our burden to him, praying for our loved ones. Then, we must continually point them in the right direction. They may not listen, but that doesn’t mean we’re not responsible for doing the praying and pointing.

We can’t have faith for others, and we can’t recover for them, but still, we’re responsible for our own behavior. What can I do? We can model faith and recovery. We can pray. And we can point them in the right direction. Then, we must take our burden to God, leaving the results up to him.