Committing
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. —Psalm 37:5-6
“Commit” in this verse means two things simultaneously. It means, first, to trust Him for the results of any given situation; then second, to surrender to total obedience to Him.
The first meaning, to trust Him for the results of everything we face, accepts that we cannot manipulate the universe to our wishes. The end result of all our endeavors is always out of our hands, whether we see that or not. Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21) Many sleepless nights could be avoided if we all took this to heart. We can sleep peacefully, knowing He has His perfect plan and we only need to follow the steps He puts in front of us. Or we can lay awake all night going over everything again and again, worrying that somehow God might have forgotten the crucial details of our particular situation.
In addition, Proverbs 21:30 tells us, There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. I wish I had understood this decades earlier than I finally did. In the arrogance of my youth I thought I must be the center of the universe and could give orders to God. I thought He had overstepped His boundaries by telling me what to do, and I “punished Him” with my disobedience and rebellion. As a result, I suffered serious life-changing consequences for being on the wrong end of that argument.
That leads us into the second meaning of “commit” which is to give up any claim of authority on our actions. It means to surrender in obedience to His direction on our lives. We have no authority over anything once we have surrendered our lives to God. The key word in that sentence is “surrendered.”
During my days as a water treatment plant operator there were occasions when the equipment malfunctioned or a chemical tank sprang a leak. If it was beyond my ability to fix. I had to make a phone call to my supervisor. Once that call was made, I surrendered my responsibility to his authority. It then became my boss’s job to make the right calls to the appropriate tradespeople to get them to the plant to get things back on track. Now I could relax, follow his direction and trust that he could make it all work out for good. I had surrendered to one whose job it was to make things right.
The same rule holds true in every aspect our lives, from top to bottom. If we commit—trust, surrender, and obey—in everything to Him, He will take care of everything else.
© 2018 Darvis McCoy
www.godpreparedafish.com
Picture: Taken on Maui, Hawaii, 2007.
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™