A Life Surrendered

This morning I woke up with Proverbs 19:1-2 on my mind. I didn't know what it was so I looked it up.
Proverbs 19:1-2
1 Better the poor whose walk is blameless
than a fool whose lips are perverse.
2 Desire without knowledge is not good—
how much more will hasty feet miss the way!

I didn't really know what to make of this passage. I had not slept very well and when I woke up my mind was already racing with plans and ideas. I read "how much more will hasty feet miss the way!" over and over again.

Confused and restless, as well as bitter that I had gotten up so early on my sleep in day, I slowly made my way downstairs and grabbed the Divine Experiment devotional. "A Life Surrendered" was the title of today's devotional, and it was all about Jesus' full submission to the Father's will. The booklet gave numerous verses associated with this that really go well with yesterday's topic, Jesus: Our Example.

John 6:38 - I have not come to do my own will but that of the Father.

The booklet says "Jesus emptied Himself of His divine prerogatives as eternal deity and became a servant so that God might be all in all in his life." In the garden of Gethsemane hours before his execution Jesus cries out in Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

It's funny how every time we try to name a good example of a certain virtue or quality one person always seems to jokingly say Jesus, but in fact, he is the perfect example, and the only one at that. He knew the Father's will for him and he did surrender his life to His will so that we might live.

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

And it is by his death, and by that sacrifice alone that we are reconciled.

Ephesians 2:4-10 - 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

These passages are a wonderful reminder of God's love for us, but I was still feeling burdened and weak as I read them. Then, in my attempt to find 2 Corinthians 4:8-12, I somehow ended up a few chapters later.

2 Corinthians 12:5-10 - 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

At this point I had realized that instead of answering my first question, I had answered other questions and posed many more. Are my hasty feet causing me to miss the way? Do I trust God enough to do his will? Do I believe that his "grace is sufficient," and that his "power is made perfect" in my weaknesses? Do I celebrate the hard times and use them as opportunities? And am I willing to believe that "when I am weak, then I am strong?"

This is a lot to swallow, and having spent the entire day on it, I am no closer to an answer than when these questions first arrived. But maybe that's because these aren't one-time questions. Maybe they are questions to take with us.

"You're my beloved, lover I'm yours.
Death shall not part us, it's you I died for..."
- Beloved, Tenth Avenue North