Not My Will, but Thine, Be Done

In the book of 2 Kings Chapter 5, Naaman, the captain of the Syrian army was a strong leader and “mighty man of valour” as the bible describes him (2 Kings 2:1) but he suffered from the ailment of leprosy. Naaman, pleaded with the King of Israel at the time to send him someone to heal him from his leprosy, but the King was upset at his request as he knew that only God is able to perform healing by His divine power and that no man is capable of doing such thing without God. Elisha the prophet, known as a man of God, instructed Naaman to dip himself in the Jordan River seven times and then he will be healed from his leprosy. Naaman was displeased when hearing this because he expected God to heal him instantaneously. The pride of Naaman almost caused him to miss his healing because he initially rejected the instruction from the prophet Elisha since it was not what he expected. Naaman became upset as he wanted the prophet Elisha to waive his hand and all of the sudden he will be cured of leprosy. As Naaman was ready to depart in his anger, it was only by the pleading of his servant that convinced Naaman to listen to Elisha and dip into the Jordan River and alas, he was clean like the flesh of a little child (2 Kings 5:14). The revelation I received in my spirit after reading this scripture is how often do we miss out how God wants to bless us because we are fixated in our mind that God has to show up at this specific time in a specific way? You may have planned in your life that you want to be married and have your first child by 28 years old, but if it does not happen by then, will you still trust God or will you start doing things your own way? Psalm 37:4 says to us “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” The Lord is faithful in His word, always! As long as we are seeking the Kingdom of God first and patiently waiting on God, everything we need will be provided and he will also give us the desires of our heart as well. There is a time and season for everything (Eccl. 3:1), Jesus Christ lived 30 years before He began His public ministry and performed miracles, you can’t rush greatness!

When we expect God to move in a particular way that we feel is best, we risk missing out on the blessings He wants to do in our lives because we are not allowing God to be Lord and master over our circumstances. We must understand that God operates under no one’s authority or nor is He obligated to perform His sovereign will under our timeline. Isaiah 55:8 states clearly “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” We as humans actually have the audacity to become upset and grow impatient waiting on God. Therefore, when we grow weary in waiting we question God’s efficiency because in our minds we believe that God should have done this or that by now but nothing appears to change. The well-known saying goes that God may not show up right when we want him to but HE is always on time. In other words, humble yourselves submit to God and allow Him to be LORD over all affairs of your life, especially when we cannot visibly see what God is doing which is usually always the case. James 4:6 reminds us that “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” During times of confusion and despair is evermore urgent to put into practice walking by faith and not by site. Allow faith to work its patience in our lives (James 1:2) however, this process requires maturity and enduring longsuffering in order for patience to have its perfect work. Trusting and believing that Jesus Christ is the way to light during your tunnel experience will lead you to the light when you are in darkness. Although you may not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, just know for sure that there is another side and a way out. You must take one-step at a time, holding on to the garment of Jesus and in due time He will lead you to the light. “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

The moment we decided to give our lives to Jesus Christ, not only did Jesus become our savior because He is also our LORD. In the dictionary, Merriam-Webster simply defines the word lord as “having power and authority over others.” In our lives, there are plenty of times where we do not have things figured out, we do not understand what is happening or why certain things are the way they are, but rejoice in the fact that God already has it figured out and under His control. A slow cook beef brisket very well takes hours to cook and finish, but when it is finished, it is a delicious masterpiece. In the Bible, king David was anointed king at a young age by the prophet Samuel but he had to wait until he was thirty years old to actually reign as a king of Israel (2 Kings 5:4). Although God made the promise to David in his youth, it did not actually come into fruition until many years later after the death of king Saul’s 40 year reign as king of Israel came to an end. Once again, we witness here that patience is key. David could have complained to God why is it taking so long or grow weary in waiting, but David loved the Lord and was patient in his time of preparation. Even king Saul hated David because of jealousy and conspired to kill David before he became king, but the Lord had favor over David and protected him despite strong opposition attempting to kill him. David still respected king Saul even after all the evil Saul conspired against him. Not once did he try to overthrow Saul, but David understood regardless of the situation that Saul is the anointed king of Israel from God. David understood the importance of patience and that it is not in his authority to interfere with the plans of God and his timing. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Simply put, God will do what He says He will do and he does not need to confer with us when or how. What The Lord has promised you will happen, but it is imperative that we endure the process of preparation and conditioning in order to handle the responsibilities of that blessing. Every blessing comes with a burden or responsibility and if you are not adequately prepared for it you will mess it up. We will not always understand how or why things happen in our lives, but trust in Jesus Christ as He is the author and finisher of our faith. Jesus was anguished with great sorrow as He knew His destiny was to face torture and crucifixion to death for the sake of our sins and prayed to Father God “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42). Jesus was obedient to God even until the point of death, so surely we can trust and be obedient to God when we are in a valley or mountain peak experience.