GOD IS SO GOOD

UPDATE: On Wednesday. we arrived home after two weeks at the Gerson Clinic. Because of Linda’s cancer treatment, we’ll be tossing out every crumb of junk food, all non-organic cleaners and cosmetics, and installing an extra water filter. It’s almost like welcoming a new baby into our home. Linda is responding well to treatment, and we praise God, but of course we both have good and bad days. I’ve kept a journal of our adventure. If you’d like to receive a copy, please email me.

While at the clinic, one of her blood tests revealed good news, and I returned to our room and began singing “God Is So Good.” I sensed the Lord saying, “Yes I am good. But remember I would be just as good if she wasn’t responding well.”

That got me thinking. How often do I declare God’s goodness only when He answers my prayers the way I want? Do I really believe He’s just as good when he chooses to bless me in a way that’s different than I desire? It comes down to simply this: I surrender to God’s will. I know. That’s a worn-out cliché. But it’s…so…true!

Think of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. After pleading with the Father to lift his cup of suffering, what did he say? “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Can I really pray that… and mean it?

I don’t have to like the way God answers prayer. I might wish it wasn’t true. (Remember Jesus sweat blood as he was praying!) Yet when the dust settles, in my heart of hearts, I really want God’s will to be done. That’s what God’s been showing us throughout Linda’s ordeal.

Romans 12:1 declares, “God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing.” (CEV). There’s a sublime freedom in fully surrendering our will to God—in laying our lives on his altar. It’s not the surrender of a conquered foe, crying “uncle’ to an enemy. It’s like a married couple who yield their lives in full intimacy to one another. It’s indescribably joyful to release my will to God’s.

Nothing else can offer that kind of peace. Psalm 62:1-2 declares, “My soul rests in God alone. My salvation is from him. He alone is my rock, my salvation, and my fortress.” (WEB). When we live in that level of surrender, life doesn’t get any better.

Principle:  We experience sublime freedom when we surrender to God’s will.

Ponder:

●       Under what circumstances have you experienced this kind of freedom from God?

●       On a scale of one to ten, how much do you really want God’s will in your life, no matter the outcome? 

Pursue: For a deeper dive, study Psalm 62.

Prayer: Lord God, my flesh resists fully surrendering to you. Give me strength to pray as Jesus did, “Not my will, but yours be done.”