I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. [Psalm 40:8 NRSV]
It is hard to think of the will of God and not remember the image of Jesus sweating drops of blood in the garden. So often the will of God goes against everything that we want and hope for. In the garden Jesus was confronted with an image of his death and prayed that he would not have to endure such pain. Yet as he prayed he offered up his will to the will of his Father. It is such an inspiring image of what it means to embrace God's will in our heart when our brain is screaming against it.
Asking for God's will to be done sometimes requires a strength of heart similar to that of Jesus in the garden. A surrender of my will to his at a very deep level. One month before my first wife passed away, after praying daily for her healing, I found myself praying and releasing my beautiful bride into the will of God. It was the hardest prayer that I had ever prayed. Maybe that is the way God's will often is. Maybe trust is only trust when it involves an acceptance of extremely difficult circumstances?
Help me Lord to listen to my willing heart. Even when it is really hard to do.
... this devotion is part of a series about King David.
Hello dear friend. Has been a tough year in some ways but God has brought us thru it all. September was the toughest. Both sick the first part od it then the truck broke down. We got 500 dollars for it, a free tow and 2000 dollars off a wonderful 2007 Toyota Camry. The payments make it tight until we get moved next year into a smaller place but I am thankful for God
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I resonate with a bad September Michelle. Spent most of it using wheelchairs and walkers as I recovered from a fractured hip. I am thankful too for the ways that God has helped us this year. May 2017 be a year of many blessings.
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