May 4

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”   —MATTHEW 7:11

If my son were to ask me, “Can I have a boiled egg?” I don’t say, “Sure,” and then sneak him a boiled scorpion. Some of us have this fear deep down that God is a bit like that. We’re sometimes very apprehensive in asking God to have His way in our lives, because He might say, “What’s the one thing you want least? Okay. That’s what I’m going to give you.” We realize God’s not going to do that simply to give us a hard time, but there will probably be a tough lesson in it we don’t want to face.

It is true God doesn’t always give us what we’d like Him to, but when our lives are surrendered to Him, He gives us even better. He sees the picture from beginning to end, and knows what we need and don’t need far better than we do. The life of Oswald J. Smith is a wonderful example. For the better part of his youth and into adulthood, he had a passionate desire to serve God in foreign mission fields, but because of ill health was declined again and again. Little did he know at the time, he would become one of the great expositors of God’s Word, write many of our well known hymns, author 35 books, over 1,000 poems, and found one of the biggest missionary churches in the world. God’s plans for him far exceeded his plans for himself.

I have sat, talked, and prayed with people who are fearful of God when they surrender their lives to Him. God doesn’t stand over us cracking a whip. In whatever capacity He may use us, it is ‘Christ in us’; His strength, His direction and His enabling that accomplishes the task. We need not fear or be anxious as the responsibility for the outcome lies with God. We are merely the vessels He uses, and that is one of the great adventures and privileges of the Christian life… to be used by God.

We all have a role to play, and we must keep in mind that God has a bigger and better agenda than ours. Our job is to trust in His divine purpose and yield to His life in us.

PRAYER: Thank You, Lord, for being the One to plan the course my life will take in serving You. Keep me from being apprehensive or anxious in any way, and always dependent on You in everything You call me to do.

TO REFLECT UPON: Do I have any fears or doubts in surrendering my life to Christ? If so, pray about them and turn them over to God.