Laying Down Our Will to Embrace His

"I entreated Your favor with my whole heart; be merciful to me according to Your word."

Psalm 119:58

Even when we have learned, God continues to teach.  There is always a deeper level - a more personal application - for biblical truth beyond where we stand.  The necessity and value of an undivided heart is a theme I have often been reminded of lately.  Unless we come to a place of rest and complete neutrality on an issue when seeking God, clear direction from our heavenly Father will often elude us.  It is not that God has abandoned us, but our preferences cloud our judgment.  We can stumble through a self-induced fog, straining for clear vision of the path laid before us.  As long as we hold to our plans and ideas - even with the thought of bringing God glory - clarity of sight and sureness of footing will remain out of reach.

In wrestling with God over direction of my life and even the church, only after I wholly yielded myself to God's plan did the answer come.  I thought I had laid my will down through belief, but God's silence showed I had not.  After I repented and sought God's guidance with my whole heart, answers came so clearly through God's Word, confirmed through circumstances and others, and complete with the peace only found through the Holy Spirit.  The example for every Christian was held forth when Jesus laid down His will in the Garden of Gethsemane before He laid down His life.  We want to lay down our lives before we lay down our will, but we find we cannot.  We fight to lay down our lives.  We look for opportunities for sacrifice.  We grasp in vain for guidance, seeking open doors.  But until our will aligns wholly with the Father's will, we will suffer spiritual impotence and confusion.  I see two distinct "wills" in operation in my life:  God's will, and my will.  They are naturally opposed to one another in every respect.  I must first lay down my will in faith in God before I can fully rest in my Father's will.

If we see the folly in casting valuable pearls before pigs who cannot discern or appreciate their value, why do we think that God will lead us into deeper truth and understanding when we are firmly set in our own ways according to our will?  Jeremiah 29:13 reads, "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."  If we trust God will our souls for eternity, we should completely trust His guidance for our next step in this life.  We must therefore put aside our agendas, opinions, and ambition concerning what we see and seek the LORD wholeheartedly with willingness to hear AND obey whatever God says.  Because Christ is the Good Shepherd, He will hear our cries and lead us into safe pasture.  He will be merciful to us according to His Word!