Gotta Serve Somebody

May 28, 2020

A song that I find relating to scripture a lot is, “Gotta Serve Somebody” by my man Bob Dylan. The line I think of most is, “But you’re gonna have to serve somebody. Yes indeed, you’re gonna have to have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord. But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” Although the song is not sound doctrine, it has a deep meaning and impact. If you are not serving the Lord, you are serving the Devil.

When we start to stray from the path that the Lord wants for us, we start to search for other “gods” to replace his position. This could be something as simple as the president, the local government, or anyone else in a leadership position. It could be a whole different religion such as Hinduism, Satanism, or something that is self-serving such as Wicca. But the “god” that I want to talk about is one that everyone one of us slips and serves every once in a while; sometimes without even realizing it.

Ourselves.

Isaiah 47: 10 “You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me’; your wisdom and knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, ‘I am and there is no one beside me.”

When we are serving ourselves, making believe that we are God when really we are just dust compared to him, we think these things. We think that our wisdom is wise and that are knowledge is at the peak of being smart. But in reality, put side by side with the Lord, we could be compared to a donkey. The statement that really sticks out to me in this verse is, "I am and there is no one beside me.” In Exodus 3:14 it says, “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I am has sent me to you.” God is I am. He said it hundreds of times throughout the Bible. He is the one beside us. When we take his role as leader, as Lord over our lives, as God, as I am, when we take that role that is his role, we are beside ourselves and then Isaiah 47:11 happens. “But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone, and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing.”

A life with ourselves on the throne is a life that leads right to death, to pain, to misery, to things we can’t even understand. But when God is our leader, we are promised so much more. Galatians 6:8 “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

So if you gotta sever somebody, it may as be the one who created you, who loves you, and who promises you eternal life.

With love,

Intern Pastor Jc Pappan