| “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver…” |
| —Isaiah 33:22 |
So often, even though we may give ascent to the fact that God is our Savior, Lord, and King, we continually act as if we are still in charge of our own lives. Recently, I commented on another individual’s blog post as follows:
If we totally surrender to God’s will and let go of everything we previously relied on to prop us up, God will open up a new way for us. The problem I have had in doing that over the last nearly 26 years of poor health is that I want to be just like I was before I got sick. It has taken me a very long time to realize that God was all along opening up a new paradigm of life for me. Once I let go of everything from my past, only then did I begin to see the new thing God had wanted me to do all along. I cannot presume to tell anyone else what to do. I can only share what I’ve learned along a painful pathway.
Much earlier, along the pathway of this new journey, I would have been much better off to say to God, “Okay! The old is gone. What have you placed me here to do?” When a totally new thing appeared, I should have joyfully embraced it, instead of grudgingly compared the new with my old and seemingly “better” life.
Because I fought against the “new,” always comparing it with what I thought my gifts and talents had prepared me to do, I slowed down the process of entering gratefully into the “new.” I spent far too much time arguing with God about what I wanted Him to provide for me to do, instead of accepting what He had provided.
In fact, I was so convinced that I knew exactly what I was supposed to do that I nearly missed opportunity after opportunity that He was bringing my way. I was blinded by my own sense that I knew what was best for me.
Even after all this time, I am still not fully able to accept what has happened to me. I still become very frustrated that I remain unable to do many things by myself and with my former ease. However, at least now I am fully aware that God’s plan is the perfect plan. Learning to rest in the fullness of His mercy, grace, and love is a daily experience of trust. May God continue to be patient with me, as I learn to trust Him more each day.
In order to again hear God’s voice and gratefully receive the new pathway He had for me, I had to acknowledge Him—and keep acknowledging Him—in a way similar to the acknowledgment found in Isaiah 33:22:
For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.
Once I stopped demanding a return to the former glories of my old pathway and embraced the new pathway God was eager to give me, He responded by taking me to places I would never have imagined. Thus, dear ones, as we begin another new day, we must understand that God will never abandon us. Even during a period when He seems silent, He is always working in our behalf. When God seems quiet, perhaps He is waiting for us to surrender to His perfect will. Once we accept His new plan, then He can lead us forward into something that will glorify Him and bring us true and lasting joy.
Originally posted on Tuesday, February 3, 2015
