When a person discovers that they are in love with God, it is natural to tell God, “I am all Yours.” When a person recognizes that God is in charge of the universe and is good, one’s faith leads one to say, “I give my life to You. You are in charge.” When one has hope that God’s plans are better than one’s own, and that anyone who chooses the life of faith sets his or her life on a good course, it simply makes sense to say, “I dedicate my life to You.”
As a child, it was easy to say, “Yes” to God. As a teen, it required more of a commitment and a recognition that saying “Yes” to God impacts all areas of one’s life. As a young adult, saying “Yes” to God seemed to open up a world of adventurous opportunities. But, as an adult, I am learning that saying “Yes” to God may also mean taking the hard road that is less glamorous. It means being open to understanding the emotional complexities of life and recognizing how painfully sin rips apart individual’s lives, families, and even society. It means recognizing that while God is good, God’s timeline is not our own and being willing to be a part of the process without a guarantee of seeing the expected good results.
I’ve always identified with Moses. When I was younger, I connected with the way that he heard God’s voice from the burning bush. As a teenager, I grappled with his presentation of the moral law and his heart for others to be obedient to it. As I grew I recognized that I too struggle with finding the right words, even though God has called me again and again to be His voice. As a pastor, I found a colleague in Moses and his leadership struggles, learning to delegate well and then the frustration when the delegation fails because of the people’s rejection of God. And now, I contemplate how Moses wasn’t able to enter the promised land. He believed in it. He did the hard work of getting the people there, even when it meant waiting for the next generation to come into leadership. I both can and can’t imagine the mix of joy and sadness he must have felt as he stood on that mountaintop and looked into the land, knowing that his journey here was over. In so many ways it seems unfair. God was merciful so many times with the people, couldn’t God have also been merciful to Moses who had carried the burden of the people for so long? Yet, I know that from that mountain, God lifted Moses up to Paradise, the true Promised Land that he had longed for.
I must admit I struggle. My faith in Jesus has been a rock for me most of my life. But I am in this stagnate time right now. I am angry at my fellow Christians who are not taking the coronavirus seriously. I want them to humble themselves and submit so that we can be healed. I don’t know who they think they are fighting against? As I read the Bible, it seems that the way out of a plague is submission to God. I feel like they all are fighting an invisible enemy that they are trying to put a human face on, but there is no human face to be identified with the coronavirus, except those who have been impacted by it. (Yes, I recognize this interpretation of the virus is too simplistic.)
I’ve lost a lot this last year that can’t be fully communicated. We finished our IVF journey unsuccessfully. The job that I was sure God was calling me to went to someone else. My community is still recovering from a natural disaster. In some places, the church has turned upon itself. And I’ve seen people treat their children as a burden, rather than as the blessing from God that they are.
(I also recognize that this shaking of society is bringing about good. Value shifts are taking place. People are rethinking the basics of how we work, school, play, worship, and relate. Crisis can even bring about worldview change. More about that in a possible future post.)
What I’m realizing, is that many of us dedicate our lives to God from a place of pride or in hopes of becoming something great in God’s kingdom (as interpreted from a human perspective). But, truly dedicating our lives to God, comes from a place of humility. It is saying that, “You are God, I am not. You are the Potter, I am the clay. You may mold me for common purposes or for royal, either way I want my life to bring you honor. I submit to Your ways.”
