Submitting to the will of God is a beautiful thing. Yet, it is an aspect of the Christian journey that many struggle with. Letting go and allowing someone else to take control of our lives can be hard to do. Yet, once we learn to do this our spiritual experience will be significantly enhanced.
Early in my Christian walk, I like most, wrongly assumed that I knew what was best for me. I would present my requests to God followed by a thoughtless, not my will but thine be done. That was the right thing to say, problem was my stubborn heart wasn’t willing to submit and I learned valuable lessons as a result.
At one point in my journey, I asked God for something that I was certain would be beneficial for me and my husband. I prayed hard but it seemed as though road blocks kept blocking our “blessing.” So, instead of submitting to the will of God I continued to press Him for what I wanted. As a result God allowed my stubborn behind to receive what I wanted so badly. No sooner was the “blessing” received than we realized we had made a terrible and extremely costly mistake.
God often allows us to go down wrong paths so that He can teach us valuable lessons, and that is exactly what happened in this case. I wished I could turn back the hands of time and submit to God’s closed door, but I couldn’t. Instead I had to suffer the consequences of putting my will and my way ahead of God’s. A mistake I never wish to make again.
True submission doesn’t always come naturally. Here are five reasons I believe we resist submitting to the will of God.
1. We are afraid. For some reason the enemy has duped us into fearing the will of God. We operate out of this mistaken assumption that God doesn’t want what’s best for us. We believe that submission will result in our unhappiness. This could be farther from the truth.
2. We don’t really know God. This is a serious problem. God is a loving heavenly father who would and has sacrificed all for us. His love would not allow Him to do us harm. His character is love and we must believe that.
3. We don’t know how to pray. Jesus, our greatest example, taught us how to pray by giving us “The Lord’s Prayer.” In it we are instructed to ask that God’s will be done. We must apply the principles of the prayer to our own personal prayers. This is what submission is all about.
4.
We think we know better than God. Could it be that the created believes it knows better than the Creator. Sounds berserk, but it happens all the time. We don’t ask that God’s will be done because we believe we know better than God. Fatal mistake.
5. We don’t understand the consequences of being outside of his will. As the song says, “the safest place in the whole wide world is in the will of God. Anytime we find ourselves outside the will of God we are treading on very dangerous territory.
Submission is not always easy but it is always best. The loss of my son is painful but I’m confident God’s will was done. I believed it was God’s will to heal Brayden from his cancer here on earth. Yet, God in His mercy waited until I realized that His will may be contrary to what I was asking. He reminded me about true submission, He reminded me of His loving character, and He reminded me that He knows best. Then when my heart was totally submitted to the will of God, God moved and His will was done. Merciful Savior! In exchange for my submission He gave me perfect peace. Hallelujah!
I pray that you will reflect upon your own spiritual journey. Do you have an unsubmissive heart or are you willing to submit to your loving Father? It is my prayer that you embrace submission and experience the wonderful benefits it brings. Won’t you submit to Christ today?