One of the surest ways to know God better is to surrender to his will as he leads you to work with him.
I grew up in a nominally Christian family that sporadically attended a protestant church. I do not remember a time in my life when I did not believe in the cardinal orthodox doctrines. After completing the confirmation process at around 12-years-old, I received from the church a Bible and a devotional and immediately began a habit of regular reading in the Gospels and Psalms that continued through high school.
Nevertheless, something was missing. I had not fully surrendered to Christ. When I left home for college, I did not attend church and reduced my Bible reading. By my sophomore year, I began drifting into worldliness. One night I decided to read the Bible and while reading experienced the conviction of sin. I began weeping and became clearly aware that Jesus was Lord, while I was living as though I were the Lord of my life. I bowed and surrendered to his rule. I determined from then on to do God’s will.
Within two weeks God providentially led me to the woman who is now my wife, and she brought me to her church, where I heard the Bible preached with passion, as the inerrant Word of God, to be believed and followed. There I was baptized in water, began to attend the campus fellowship, and eventually became one of the leaders. Upon graduation, I joined the staff of the church, and have been in ministry ever since.
All these dramatic changes began when I surrendered. And they have continued all my adult life. When we choose to do God’s will, and work for him in obedience to his will, our knowledge of him grows exponentially and never stops.
God ordains his role for you
2 Corinthians 1:1 says, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” (ESV). Paul held an exalted role in the church, but he did not choose it. God chose and called him. When Paul was a violent persecutor of the church, Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and redirected his life.
He became an apostle “by the will of God.”
God’s will for every believer
Are you ever bored with your life? Do you ever feel insignificant, as though you lack purpose and meaning? Advertisements and secular motivational speakers tell us the answer to this malaise is a better job, or more entertainment, the latest video game, physical exercise, or creative pursuits. But Scripture says we can only find enduring purpose in the will and work of God.
Scripture shows that God assigns work and roles to every believer.
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) says, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
1 Peter 4:10 (ESV) says, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”
1 Corinthians 12:7, 11 (ESV) says, “[7] To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. … [11] All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”
Thus we, too, serve God “by the will of God.”
The weight of God’s will
No one’s will is more important than his. It endures forever (1 John 2:17). It is good, acceptable, and perfect (Romans 12:2). It is pure—the highest and holiest thing we can do (Psalm 19:7–9). This glorious will of God explains why each believer has work to do in his kingdom.
Consider the significance of that, the weight of what carries you along in your work for the Lord, the eternal purpose of it. In a sense, your work for God is like driving a 200-ton locomotive. Although you will at times face challenges, setbacks, and troubles, God will nevertheless accomplish his desire through you if you walk in faith and obedience.
There is a weight of glory in what you do for God, whether you are called to work in a home for the elderly or to tend newborns in a church nursery or public day care. There is infinite value in what you do, whether it is helping run a small group in church or serving on the school board of your city. If you sought his will in adopting a role, you are doing it because it is God’s will.
Moses learns that God requires obedience
In the life of Moses, working with God certainly brought about a greater knowledge of God and a deeper consecration to God’s will. When he met God at the burning bush, Moses was unwilling to go to Egypt. He asked God to send someone else. Nevertheless God insisted, and Moses finally surrendered. So we see the call of God to the work of God brought about a greater embrace of the will of God.
But his surrender was incomplete. Although he knew he should have already circumcised his two sons, he and his wife had never done so, perhaps because his Midianite, non-Jewish wife had resisted it. As a result we see a mysterious episode. As Moses and his family journeyed toward Egypt, God met Moses—his newly recruited worker—to judge him for disobeying the fundamental, essential requirement given to all Abraham’s male descendants, that they be circumcised (see Genesis 17:11–14).
“At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, ‘Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!’ So he let him alone. It was then that she said, ‘A bridegroom of blood,’ because of the circumcision.” (Exodus 4:24–26 ESV)
The episode lasts just one short paragraph. There must be a large backstory we are not given, explaining the severity of God’s intervention. Whatever the reasons, Moses, negligent and rebellious, was getting a crash course in obedience. He was learning well that those who work with God must honor and love his will. Although God revealed himself in the Old Testament as “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6), his patience was not unlimited.
Godly people who confessed the importance of surrender
Working with God deepens our knowledge of God by increasing our consecration, our surrender to his will.
Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34). And, “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35). And, “I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:30). And, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38).
Notice in Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, as recorded by Luke, that he qualifies his request to be spared going to the cross, making it explicit that he only wants the will of God to be done, three times in just one entreaty: “He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, [that’s one] remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will [that’s two], but yours be done [that’s three]’” (Luke 22:41–42 ESV).
The apostle Paul taught, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2 ESV). Moreover, “Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17).
King David wrote, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:7–8 ESV).
The apostle John wrote, “The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17 ESV).
The apostle Peter wrote that we should live “no longer for human passions but for the will of God” (1 Peter 4:2 ESV).
Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38 ESV).
Takeaway
This blog is dedicated to the pursuit of knowing God better. One of the surest ways to do that is to surrender to his will as he leads you to work with him.