The Path of Life

Christians do what we do before God, not to win favor with man. We daily seek His thoughts and direction on all matters in our lives. He promises to show us the path of life, how to live fully in His presence. He knows every detail of the life He has for us, including the number of hairs on our heads! We need the light of His life to see beyond the darkness to the way He has planned for us:

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 NASB

“Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.” Proverbs 21:2 Berean

We need His light within our own hearts, because who can truly know their own heart?

“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, to give to each person according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 NASB

God searches our hearts, revealing them to us for purging and change. This is the way God deals with His sons and daughters, always from His heart of love, mercy and justice. He shows us specifically how He would have us handle the events in our lives. Sometimes, He tells us: “Wait. Let me deal with this until you have the right heart, my heart, the right balance, to take this on. You don’t yet see as I see.”

God knows we cannot see as He sees, because His thoughts and ways are truly higher than our thoughts and earthly viewpoints. There’s a song that starts “Let God arise and His enemies be scattered.” It should say “and our enemies” —the enemies of His people—be scattered. God has no enemies but we do. God is at rest, totally in charge of everything, so what power can come against the God of the universe?

Jesus Christ our Lord has the position of intercession for us with our enemies. He takes on our battles when we belong to Him. The adversary rules the earth as a roaring dragon in the world, bringing adversity that is our battle, with our Lord by our side. Like it or not, He takes us through rather than out of most of them. God leaves us in the battle brought by our circumstances, if not our choices, until the refining process has done its work.

Adversity brings growth in character, maturing a child, natural our spiritual, quicker than blessings do. We need both but it is a hard truth for some to accept. Thankfully, God is able to reveal His thoughts and ways to His people. He has a very unique and specific path for each of us. His ultimate purpose is for His saints to have purified hearts without guile, prepared to bring redemption for all.

We need to stay in God’s school to become like Abraham, a Friend of God who understood God’s heart:

“And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend.” James 2:23

We must understand and learn Who God is to discern the intents of His heart. We have to go deeper to settle critical questions with Him by the Holy Spirit. We search to find out what God’s purpose is in what He does. Perhaps more frequently, we search to understand the purpose in what He does not do — what He allows.

“You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.” Psalms 16:11 Berean

“But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Proverbs 4:8 Berean

We need the light of His spirit to show us the way, literally. King David, the psalmist, was assured that God would show him the path of life. Read about David’s many battles leading the Lord’s people and you will see, over and over, how David went to the Lord first, asking God what he should do. God told David, very specifically, what to do in order to win the battles against the enemies of the Israelites.

We too can receive this specific guidance in our daily lives. We don’t have to be a great King to hear from the Lord! You might be surprised at the small details God will help us with when we ask. Small, daily things that we might think we should not bother Him by asking are okay as well as asking about those large and critical decisions required of us. When we know that Father God is responding with holy spirit directives in the small details of living, it increases our faith and trust in Him when the bigger issues arise.

Our Father is a very attentive Parent. He cares and listens to the smallest details of our lives. He already knows them all and is yet most gracious in listening to our prayers about anything. The more we pray for God’s guidance in everything, the more we show our Lord that we trust Him more than ourselves. God did not say we have to reserve one part of our life to handle ourselves because it’s too small or petty to bother Him about. If He knows the hairs on our heads, He surely cares about everything we are and do. We learn more and more to listen as well, to hear His voice within.

There are many things God allows that we just don’t understand. Without the Holy Spirit revealing and teaching us His ways, we become troubled and confused by His acts. When these include the deep pain and suffering within and around us, it is quite difficult to comprehend, let alone accept. We risk going into a deep ditch, struggling with anger or loss of faith when God does not do what we think is right nor prevent such awful tragedies and violence in the world.

God’s timing is something we question, being locked in earthly, limited time in contrast to His eternal perspective. We are not alone in this. Mary and Martha got upset with Jesus about His timing, which allowed their brother, Lazarus, to die:

“When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already spent four days in the tomb. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them in the loss of their brother.

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him; but Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.’

‘Your brother will rise again,’ Jesus told her. Martha replied, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’” John 11:17-26 Berean

Martha had faith that her Lord Jesus could ask the Father and He would grant whatever was asked. That is true faith! She already believed in the resurrection, though she did not see the Resurrection before her.

This is one of the many challenges we have in understanding God’s spiritual ways from our limited earthly perspective. We prioritize events on Earth, stuck in this spiritual dimension. We begin to comprehend His ways as God lifts and enlightens us with His spirit. We do not live in eternity in spirit, soul, and body yet, so we cannot help being limited in our understanding of matters of life and death.

But remember, this is not our homeland! It is just our training ground for eternal life. God prioritizes the spiritual world more than the earthly world in which we live. God lives in eternity, not in time, and invites us to have this perspective, even when someone we love dies. While we grieve at such most painful losses, we are not to grieve without hope. God reminds us that it is a release for them. They are in their rank and order in the unseen, delivered from the earthly challenges we still face.

“Now we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are reposing, lest you may sorrow according as the rest, also, who have no expectation.

For, if we are believing that Jesus died and rose, thus also, those who are put to repose, will God, through Jesus, lead forth together with Him.

For this we are saying to you by the word of the Lord, that we, the living, who are surviving to the presence of the Lord, should by no means outstrip those who are put to repose,” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Concordant Literal

Our world is His world, designed to shape, train, and develop us, His children, into the fullness of His path for each of us. He reveals His path of life for each faithful Christian who looks to Him for direction. Sometimes it’s like the headlights of a car driving in deep darkness with no other light around. We see just what is right ahead of us and how to keep going. At other times, He reveals this path of life in glorious technicolor so we cannot miss it!

His word powerfully reassures us of His hold on us, His constant presence in our lives. This is beautifully expressed in this scripture from the Amplified translation:

“...I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down nor will I relax my hold on you [assuredly not]!” Hebrews 13:5b Amplified

How emphatic! God has us, in all circumstances, always and forever. But, let’s face it, it’s still challenging to endure God’s timing. We wait and wait, sometimes a lifetime, for some things to be worked out for our lives, or those we love, or in this sin-ridden world. When we are in God’s waiting room, we learn a great deal about Him and ourselves. Once, when God finally said “Soon.” in response to a ten-years-long answer to prayer, I honestly replied: “Your soon or my soon?” My “soon” was in a few months, not two years later when His “soon” was fulfilled.

By that time in my walk with the Lord, I knew that His “soon” was rarely what I considered soon, particularly when a year is like a day to Him:

“Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:8 Berean

Well, no wonder things look messed up now! The Lord intends all to come to repentance and that surely will take, from our perspective, a long, long time. He has an eternal plan that we are trying to understand in the context of our brief lives here on Earth. Clearly, God does what He does when implementing His perfect plan, regardless of our impatience in waiting. God’s timing definitely is not ours and He does not operate on our timetable! When asking God how He can stand all the pain in our world that is so hard to bear, He told me: “Because I know the end from the beginning.”

We wait, patiently or not, building up our faith and trust in Him as we do, or not. Peter cautions us to not think He is slow in keeping His promises to us, though that is exactly what it feels like! What we think is a long time is mere seconds to the Lord of the universe. We get so focused upon and limited by our present earthly life and circumstances that we forget this is but a blink of time in the life of the spirit. God is most interested in bringing our perspective up to His, in a higher realm to learn of His ways.

Sometimes it seems He delights in showing up in circumstances at the last minute, when all human hope is lost. Then it’s very obvious that no human hand accomplished what He proceeds to do. This was the experience of many in the Bible. Consider Hannah, the most beloved one of Elkanah’s two wives. Being barren, Hannah was tormented by Elkanah’s other wife, Penninah, who easily produced children for Elkanah. Penninah taunted and ridiculed soft-hearted Hannah about her childless state, making her life most miserable.

Though Hannah became more and more despondent and heartbroken through the years of waiting and hoping for a child, there’s no account that she complained or defended herself. Here’s what eventually unfolded for Hannah:

“Year after year Elkanah would go up from his city to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the Lord. And whenever the day came for Elkanah to present his sacrifice, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he would give a double portion, for he loved her even though the Lord had closed her womb.

Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival would provoke her and taunt her viciously. And this went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival taunted her until she wept and would not eat.

‘Hannah, why are you crying?’ her husband Elkanah asked. ‘Why won’t you eat? Why is your heart so grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?’” 1 Samuel 1:3-8 Berean

Note that the Lord closed Hannah’s womb—what an astonishing statement! This confirms the path of life for Hannah,was set by God to only become a mother when it was HIS time, regardless of what she wanted. How painful and difficult for Hannah! It was really the only role for wives in that era, to produce and raise children. Elkanah favored Hannah with extra portions and tried to comfort her about not producing a child. Penninah surely saw the favor her husband bestowed on Hannah, likely making her even more jealous and cruel.

Penninah’s torment of Hannah happened annually when they traveled to the annual feast times to worship the Lord. These may have been when Hannah was forced to be with Penninah, while at home she could avoid her tormentor. We do not know what Elkanah knew about Penninah’s abusive treatment of Hannah, but it appears that he was unaware. But Hannah knew it was God with Whom she had to deal.

Hannah became desperate about her desire for a son, pleading and bargaining with the Lord:

“In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. And she made a vow, pleading, ‘O Lord of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever come over his head.’

As Hannah kept on praying before the Lord, Eli watched her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard.So Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, ‘How long will you be drunk? Put away your wine!’ ‘

No, my lord,’ Hannah replied. ‘I am a woman oppressed in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; for all this time I have been praying out of the depth of my anguish and grief.’

‘Go in peace,’ Eli replied, ‘and may the God of Israel grant the petition you have asked of Him.’ ‘May your maidservant find favor with you,’ said Hannah. Then she went on her way, and she began eating again, and her face was no longer downcast.

The next morning Elkanah and Hannah got up early to bow in worship before the Lord and then returned home to Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.

So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, ‘Because I have asked for him from the Lord.’ Then Elkanah and all his house went up to make the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, but Hannah did not go. “After the boy is weaned,’ she said to her husband, ‘I will take him to appear before the Lord and to stay there permanently.’…

Once she had weaned him, Hannah took the boy with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. Though the boy was still young, she brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. And when they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli.

‘Please, my lord,’ said Hannah, ‘as surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this boy, and since the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him, I now dedicate the boy to the Lord. For as long as he lives, he is dedicated to the Lord.’” 1 Samuel 1:10-18; 24-26 Berean

Hannah gave birth to her precious son, Samuel, and raised him for a few years. She kept her bargain with the Lord, taking Samuel to live with Eli to be trained as a priest in the house of the Lord. And Samual was born for just that time! There was a critical lack in the priesthood at that time because the current priest, Eli, had two priest sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who did evil in the sight of the Lord.

Samuel became the Priest to replace them, going on to become one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. Hannah’s desire and petition were a part of God’s path of life for her, and, as such, was eventually fulfilled. The harder truth here is about God’s investment in birthing children at His specific timing and for His purposes. When we are serving the Lord, His timing is necessary not just to fulfill our heart’s desires, but to fulfill His plans.

Sons and daughters of God’s chosen people are often born to “such a time as this.” God makes sure our precious children are birthed for a particular work that is needed in God’s plan for that age. This is not often revealed before the child’s birth but nonetheless, each generation has those called and chosen to do God’s work. Remember, Abraham and Sarah waited for their precious Isaac, the Child of Promise, until Sarah was 90 and past childbearing years!

It is so difficult to wait, and yet for God’s best, we need to do so. There’s another Old Testament wife who was unhappily childless. Rachel was barren, longing to have a child with Jacob. She stands by, heartbroken and jealous, as her sister Leah, Jacob’s other wife and her older sister, produces four sons with him: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.

Once again, Rachel is the wife Jacob loved while Leah was forced upon Jacob through deception by Rachel’s father. Jacob served their father for seven years to win Rachel, only to be tricked into marrying Leah instead. Jacob served another seven years to finally win Rachel. Yet she remains barren for years, watching and waiting with building resentment, impatience and anger. Rachel finally becomes convinced she cannot live unless she has a child.

We hear her anguish and pain when she erupts with anger at Jacob:

“Now when Rachel saw that she [still] had not borne Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or else I am going to die.’

Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, ‘Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?’” Genesis 30:1-2 KJV

Rachel had been waiting for God to give her a child with Jacob, to no avail. Over time, she became more and more bitter and jealous, searching for someone to blame. Is this possibly the first appearance of the “blame the husband” way of coping when we wives are unhappy?! How often had Jacob heard about this from Rachel? She was not one to keep quiet about what was troubling her like Hannah.

Jacob had probably responded many times to Rachel with comfort and compassion. He longed to fix it because he so loved Rachel and desired her happiness. But Jacob realized he could not make it happen, only God could do so. This time, he exploded with frustration and anger at Rachel. Many husbands find themselves in situations like this. They long to do something, to fix what is troubling their beloved wives but they cannot.

It’s easy to speculate this as Jacob dearly loved Rachel, waiting and working for 14 years to win her as his wife. She was the wife of his heart, and yet he could not give her what she most wanted. His angry frustration is not an uncommon response from a loving husband who feels helpless when his wife is most unhappy—and making him most unhappy in dwelling with her!

Jacob knew it was up to God if she was to bear a child, not him. God is the one who has closed up her womb. What he said to Rachel was truthful, though not comforting. We would hope that, after this, Rachel would leave it to God, but she does not. Rachel takes matters into her own hands, devising a plan to give Jacob her maid, Bilhah, to produce children. Bilhah birthed sons, Dan and Naphtali, on Rachel’s behalf. And do you think God was surprised and unprepared for this?

Rachel’s actions again heats the competition with her sister, Leah. As Leah was older, past her childbearing years, when she saw Rachel producing two sons through her maid. She couldn’t have that, so she got her maid, Zilpah, to produce two more sons for Jacob: Gad and Asher. Leah also conceived again later in life, bartering with Rachel for another night with Jacob. She produced two more sons, Issachar and Zebulun. Then, finally, in God’s timing and to fulfill His plans for Jacob’s sons, Rachel has her sons, Joseph and Benjamin.

The twelve sons of Jacob are, of course, the foundation of our faith, the beginning of the twelve tribes of Israel. These men and women all fulfilled a destiny in God. Each was a child of promise and God’s idea, yet at least half of the 12 sons of Jacob were conceived as part of the ongoing competition between these two women! We can be thankful that polygamy is no longer God’s way, but how we 21st-century women can identify with the pain of childlessness. We can relate to feelings of resentment and competition with other women who seem to easily have children, including those who do not want them or are not able to care for them as we would.

Perhaps we haven’t seen it in ourselves, but surely we can see it in the women around us – at home with our relatives, at work, fellowshiping with our Christian sisters. Strife and jealousy are hard to resist when another woman seems so easily to have what we desperately want. We may not jealously wish that they do not have their blessings, but we may envy them and grieve in our hearts that conceiving a child is not allowed for us. God knows:

“There are three things that are never satisfied—no, four that never say, “Enough!”: the grave, the barren womb, the thirsty desert, the blazing fire.” Proverbs 30:15b-16 NLT

Hannah and Rachel present a contrast in their differing ways of coping with very similar situations. Rachel is a fighter determined to get what she wants no matter what it takes. Her later behavior about her sons’ future also reveals that she is willing to manipulate to get her way. Hannah is an internalizer who is passive, depressed and oppressed by her barrenness. She has much unrest and continually appeals to God. Neither are at peace with their lack of children nor God’s timing.

Even though we don’t have a polygamous society, this all-too-human behavior shows up in the world today, including within our Christian communities, causing harm and discord, robbing us and others of peace. Envy and jealousy are devouring emotions that can literally “eat us up.” These draining emotions add turmoil and unhappiness to family relationships. Holding on to them eventually develops bitterness, which Paul tells us defiles many:

“Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.” Hebrews 12:14-15 Berean

Competition, jealousy, envy, and manipulative plans to be the “most important” and the “one favored,” appear in many families today. Siblings may not get along because of it. In blended families, a wife and ex-wife may battle for position and favor with husband and/or children. Some fathers and mothers are masters at setting their children against the other parent, whether separated or together, to the detriment of the children more than anyone else.

Parents and their adult children may fight over who gets to decide how the children are raised, particularly when grandparents provide childcare. Those without children may resent the time and attention, the emotional and financial investment parents have with their grandchildren. Conflicts arise about which side of the family has the privilege of their time and presence for holidays, and other important family occasions. Resentment arise because of centering family occasions around those who have children.

And we could go on and on, as it is the way of all flesh. Selfishness and competition can be passed from generation to generation. Even close friends display jealousy when their friendships are robbed of time together and shared activities, when one becomes a parent while the other is not. It takes God for us to truly rejoice in another’s blessings when we are seemingly deprived of the same.

Rachel was the beloved one but remained barren for many years. Clearly, this blessing being denied for so long was not because Rachel was unloved by Jacob or God, though Rachel may have felt that way. When we do not get what we want in life, it can be easy to slip into the lie that God does not love us enough to give what seems to be provided so easily to others. Ten sons were born to Jacob with three other women – Leah, then Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, then Zilpah, Leah’s maid, before Rachel had Joseph, and then Benjamin.

Our hearts ache for Rachel, however, as we connect with her strong will, so determined to get a child one way or another. Rachel did not know or accept the hard truth that God is the giver of life or the closer of the womb. Her anger at Jacob is a childish, immature way of blaming someone else, extending to God, the ultimate Controller, when we don’t get our way. We can certainly take similar foolish actions today when we insist on having something God seems to be denying us. Rather than waiting for God’s timing and direction about if/how/when He chooses to fulfill this desire, we, along with Rachel, want it now, in our “soon” rather than His.

In our present age, God has opened many wonderful paths for people to have children when they remain biologically childless. Most options are not easy paths, but there are fertility drugs, foster care, or adoption. Siblings, aunts and uncles, close friends or neighbors may take on a child to raise when the biological parent(s) are unable or unwilling to do it. Children benefit from the love and care that they so wondrously provide.

Many a happy child is being raised by people who did not literally bring them into the world. It is no less a “meant to be” plan of God than becoming pregnant, one way or another, after a long wait and petition to the Lord. Painful though the wait is, God surely turns childlessness into good over time. Some are blessed with a long awaited child, well worth the time it took to be gifted of this treasure. Unless God intervenes, some must surrender, seeking God for peace about their remaining childlessness in this child-focused world.

Our struggle with God’s timing and provision is because we do not understand or trust the heart of God. He is love! He does not withhold any good thing from us, regardless of our struggles in the path He has opened for us:

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows grace and favor and honor; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Psalms 84:11 Amplified

When we are walking uprightly, obedient to His ways, He graciously grants us all good things. Perhaps, and this is not meant lightly, we disagree with what God defines as a “good thing!” Isn’t that what we are pleading with God about? We are not usually begging God for something unclean or bad, so of course we are asking for a good thing! In fact, most Christians seem to have this good thing that we covet. Why not us? Why NOT us??!!

Though we know it’s not right to be angry with our Lord, we start to feel anger toward Him in our hearts. We may try to hide this from God, as we know it is not right. We may avoid Him as we might with another human with whom we are angry. Or we hide it from ourselves, pushing it way down in our souls, not wanting to see it because we know it is wrong. But it’s there, simmering and waiting to erupt, as Rachel’s anger did with Jacob or Hannah’s did in bitter tears and prayers.

But why pretend to God when He can see it in our hearts? We are in a Father/child relationship where He delights to teach us the truth. We might as well talk with God. He’s the One with whom we have to deal and the only One who can help. There are many examples of God’s servants having angry conversations with the Lord: just read the Book! Even when we are angry, or most especially when we are, we can run to our Father to talk about it. The sooner we do this, the better it will be for us. We won’t have a root of bitterness and jealousy growing further in our hearts. A root of bitterness does defile others around us as well as causing much personal depression and unhappiness in life.

God will not operate within any immature human idea of “If He loved me, He would give me what I want.” We may try out this emotional blackmail to get our way with people, but God cannot be manipulated. He will do what He will do. But He is with us either way! We can talk with Him honestly about what’s happening. Our marvelous Lord is able then to change our hearts to surrender rather than to harbor anger and loss of peace, no matter what we’ve allowed to build up within us.

Ultimately, we may need to forgive God, an astounding thought! If you are still uncomfortable with admitting to God that you are angry with Him, it’s even more astounding to hear Him say you need to forgive Him! But why not? We know He does no wrong, but our hearts judge Him, seeing Him as a withholding, rather than generous, Father. God seems fine with allowing us to go on hurting and unhappy, as He did with Hannah and Rachel.

We do love Him but we don’t understand His ways. It feels like a betrayal of His love to deny us this good thing or to postpone it until we’ve given up in despair. So, the Holy Spirit may direct us to forgive our perfect Lord because we don’t understand and are angry and hurt. It’s another way to clear out our hearts so we can understand the path of life He has destined for us. With clean spirits and peaceful hearts, we are much more able to see the specific, careful, and wondrous path of life He has in store for us.

God may grant our most important desire, as He later did with Rachel, Hannah, and many others. Or He may help us understand that He has good reason to keep this good thing we want from us, granting us peace regardless. Surrender to His will, not ours, is the key. Then all our distress is eventually swallowed up in peace and rest. God absolutely will do what is good for us. No human can keep something from us that God wants us to have, regardless of the miracles required!

Sometimes He will reveal why it is not a good thing for us even though others have it. It is because He loves us that He has planned another life for us. He says, “No, my beloved son or daughter, it is not a good thing for you.” The sincere, true surrender to God’s will reveals that He has ordained another path of life for us. We leaern to accept what God allows in our lives, including what He denies us. As we grow up in Him, we gain enough maturity to not desire anything God does not want us to have.

We learn to hold our desires loosely before the Lord while He confirms His direction. No one except the Lord can grant us, His servants, something that we don’t need, regardless of what we think about it. See the post on The Desires of the Heart for more understanding about this most challenging part of spiritual life. When we are servants of the Most High, no one can take anything from us that HE wants us to have.

We must settle this in our hearts as we continue to walk with the Lord and search for His path for us. God, not humans, is in control, just as Jacob said to Rachel. We can come to say “God, if it is your will for me not to have what I want or believe I desperately need, if I can serve you better without it, help me accept it and forgive You. And Lord, along with the answer of NO, please take away the strong desire for this. Grant me peace in this surrender to your path of life for me.”

When we accept the Lord’s rulership, He takes away the desire or grants it in His specific timing for each of us according to our calling. He surely is most able to give us peace regardless of the outcome, no matter how impossible it may seem in our circumstances. Then, we do not have to be envious of others who have what we want. We can rejoice in what God has given us, without coveting anything our neighbor has.

Sadly most of us only understand more of His ways in hindsight, because we are only human. Our heart’s surrender is the priority in God’s waiting room. Surrender is not giving up, resigning ourselves to an unhappy life. Surrender is yielding our spirit, soul and body to Him. He becomes more important than what we desire in our lives. That inner working of understanding and acceptance, the surrender to God’s plan for us, is a longer-lasting lesson than getting what we want when we want it.

And, remember, we do have a Savior who has gone through what we have:

“For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] sin.” Hebrews 4:15 Amplified

Can you think of anyone who suffered more unjustly, anyone who was more unfairly denied many things in this life that others expected and had? Consider Jesus, Who loved children, may have desired to be married and have children like most men of His time. We know He did not yield to sinful envy or jealousy, but he had a human side from his mother, Mary. Jesus also did not live beyond 33 ½ years. His life was cut far shorter on this earth than even His contemporaries were allowed.

We can rest assured that Jesus “gets it.” He had a human side so He could know what it is like for us. Like Him, we have our own Gethsemane experiences, where we struggle to yield, to finally say “Not my will, but Yours be done.” God is more than able to grant this amazing gift of peace in yielding to Him. He sees our hearts and understands. He takes away the sting of envy and loss. He graciously teaches us how to learn of His ways when we are either waiting or denied.

God has a Path of Life for us. It is the most satisfying when we learn to find and live in His will for the way He has determined is best for us as well as our purposes in His kingdom. Consider these words in tthe following chorus, Nothing Can Happen Outside of God’s Will:

Nothing can happen outside of God’s will.

Trust in His love; be patient, hold still.

The clouds will all vanish, and the sun again shine

If you will make the Father’s will thine.

(author unknown)