Not my will…

 

Reading several devotionals is not getting to me this morning, except this one line:  “Many of us do not go on spiritually because we prefer to choose what is right instead of relying on God to choose for us.”

The past two weeks have involved relying on God to choose the activities of each day, and I wonder about those choices (am I doubting God?) because this day, I don’t want any more surprises, phone calls, troubled stories, or burdens to pray about. I’d like to sleep all day.

Then I think about Jesus who said, “Not my will but thine be done” and not long after that, “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.” (Matthew 27:50)

Before that incredible statement, He also said:

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:17–18)

In other words, Jesus knew the Father loved Him so He willingly yielded to whatever God wanted for Him and from Him. He could have selected the ‘right’ thing, or the ‘best’ thing, or whatever seemed  a good idea, but He laid down that right to choose.

This takes me back to today’s devotional. It begins with: “Let everything else go that you may live out, in a practical daily walk and conversation, the Christ-life you have dwelling within you. You are united to your Lord by a wonderful tie; walk, then, as He walked, and show to the unbelieving world the blessed reality of His mighty power to save. You need not fear to consent to this, for He is your Savior and has power to do it all. He is not asking you, in your weakness, to do it yourself. He only asks you to yield yourself to Him that He may work in you and through you by His own mighty power. Your part is to yield yourself.”

I know that He also gives the power to obey. Up front, with the way I’m feeling, power to do anything seems remote, but as the devotional writer says, I’m not to concern myself with the hours ahead that I cannot see. Instead, just abandon myself to His care. His goal is this, not that I feel good about my day but that I trust Him and in that, He is seen by others who as yet do not read His Word. I’m to be a letter of recommendation for Him and for His people, not a tired and reluctant scrawl but alert and yielded to the One who has written His Word on my heart.

PRAY: Lord, I’m not sure what this day will bring, another test or some badly yearned for rest. You know what is the most vital thing. Help me trust You, no matter what, and to have the energy of a yielded spirit rather than the reluctance of a weary body and mind. Not my will, but thine be done.

Renewing the old stuff?

 

READ Exodus 1-4

OT history often depicts NT truth, sometimes subtly, sometimes obviously. The exodus of God’s people from their slavery in Egypt is an historical event that parallels the exodus of sinners from their bondage to sin. It contains elements of what happens when someone is saved.

For instance, the way of salvation is unexpected and comes from outside of themselves. Escape had an appeal, but it was initiated by God. He used a man to make it happen, one who confronted the enemy. He performed signs and wonders but that enemy had a hard heart and became even more determined to keep his slaves. The battle for them was very much like a spiritual battle for the souls of others.

At the end of chapter 3, God tells Moses what he is supposed to say to the leaders of his people. They needed to know the plan for their exodus. They also needed to know something else:

Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to . . . a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.” (Exodus 3:16–22)

These last thoughts are intriguing. Do they fit the pattern of the Gospel? When a sinner is saved, does that person plunder or take as spoils anything from the kingdom of darkness and their old sinful life into the new? Does God allow this, even plan that it happens?

I hesitate. I’ve an idea but am not sure the Scriptures back it up. It seems to me that when a sinner becomes a Christian, God does allow that person to bring something with them into the kingdom of His Son. It is not for their own pleasure or enjoyment, but needed to serve Him and to give to the next generations of those who follow Christ.

For example, my husband is a leader and throughout his career he has developed his  leadership skills and advanced from a clerk to project management to head of the construction division of a large engineering company. In that process, he became a Christian. God did not call him to abandon what he had learned but began to change his motivations and intentions. Some skilled people aim for personal advancement but God wanted his skills for the betterment of his company, excellence in each project, even glory for Himself. At this point in hubby’s life, he should be retired but is in demand because he is honest, delivers what clients want, knows how to settle disputes, and has a host of skills that God “plundered” from his old life and turned them into God-honoring attitudes and actions.

If my former life had involved some sort of sinful occupation, like robbing banks or ripping off unsuspecting people, God would not allow that to come with me into serving Christ. Some of my skills were laid aside or used in a different way, depending on God’s will and the changes He made in my attitudes toward them. This isn’t to say ‘my skills’ in the sense of using them in my strength or as it once was, but being overcome with a sense of inability so that anything I do, even that which was easy prior to my conversion, now requires being filled with the Spirit and put entirely under the direction and empowerment of God. As with the Israelites, these are lessons learned in traveling through the wilderness. This is a result of the Gospel which declares:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

FOR TODAY. Even as I do things that I knew how to do before being saved, like cooking, sewing, and all sorts of other life skills, I realize how much I need the Holy Spirit’s power. When the Lord is involved, He makes all things new, even the old stuff!