Sacrifice, Trust, and Giving it all to God
So, I know that some of you have read Erin's post about chapel yesterday. I just wanted to share with you all what God spoke to my heart. For those of you who don't know what chapel was about, I'll tell you :)
The speaker used the passage 2 Samuel 23. This is the passage about David and his mighty men. It talks about the mighty men risking their lives in order to bring David water from the well in Bethlehem. When they brought the water to David he said "thank you" and dumped the water out.
The speaker used this passage to talk about sacrifice. The speaker talked about how he had dedicated his teens and 20's to God (and the desires he had to get married). God pretty much dumped out his "water" (desires) and told him not to date, or look at a woman in that way. But then when the speaker offered his 30's up to God, God gave him the desires of his heart and allowed him to get married.
Why would a God, who wants to give us the desires of our hearts, dump our desires out repeatedly? Because he's the king and he can do whatever he wants! Isn't that incredible? Like Erin, the whole idea of sacrifice hit me differently than it normally does. It didn't hit me like something I'm obligated to do (even though I kind of am). It hit me more as something that I have the incredible privilage of doing. I always talk about how my life seems like an adventure because I never know where God's going to lead me and how much I love that feeling. But I don't know that I've ever thought about actually giving God a period of my life and completely just letting go of it.
As much as this whole idea struck me as amazing and as something I wanted to do, I was hesitant to actually say "God I give you my 20's and all of the desires I have for this time in my life. Take them. Let my desires become your desires. Take my degree, take my plans and dump them out if that's what you want to do."
I then realized that it takes so much trust to do something like that, and trusting someone (even God) that much, scares me. God then asked me: "why don't you trust me enough to give that to me?" The truth is I don't know. I don't know why I even hesitated. I don't know why the idea of trusting God scared me. So, I decided to push through that hesitant feeling I had, really trust my Abba, and dedicate my 20's to God. It's still a bit scary to trust that much, but I know there's no better place to put my trust than in God. But you know what outweighs the scariness? The freedom I've found in doing that. I don't have to worry about anything. It is truly in God's hands. If God decides to dump out my desires, then so be it...He is the king after all and He can do whatever He wants with my life :)
The speaker used the passage 2 Samuel 23. This is the passage about David and his mighty men. It talks about the mighty men risking their lives in order to bring David water from the well in Bethlehem. When they brought the water to David he said "thank you" and dumped the water out.
The speaker used this passage to talk about sacrifice. The speaker talked about how he had dedicated his teens and 20's to God (and the desires he had to get married). God pretty much dumped out his "water" (desires) and told him not to date, or look at a woman in that way. But then when the speaker offered his 30's up to God, God gave him the desires of his heart and allowed him to get married.
Why would a God, who wants to give us the desires of our hearts, dump our desires out repeatedly? Because he's the king and he can do whatever he wants! Isn't that incredible? Like Erin, the whole idea of sacrifice hit me differently than it normally does. It didn't hit me like something I'm obligated to do (even though I kind of am). It hit me more as something that I have the incredible privilage of doing. I always talk about how my life seems like an adventure because I never know where God's going to lead me and how much I love that feeling. But I don't know that I've ever thought about actually giving God a period of my life and completely just letting go of it.
As much as this whole idea struck me as amazing and as something I wanted to do, I was hesitant to actually say "God I give you my 20's and all of the desires I have for this time in my life. Take them. Let my desires become your desires. Take my degree, take my plans and dump them out if that's what you want to do."
I then realized that it takes so much trust to do something like that, and trusting someone (even God) that much, scares me. God then asked me: "why don't you trust me enough to give that to me?" The truth is I don't know. I don't know why I even hesitated. I don't know why the idea of trusting God scared me. So, I decided to push through that hesitant feeling I had, really trust my Abba, and dedicate my 20's to God. It's still a bit scary to trust that much, but I know there's no better place to put my trust than in God. But you know what outweighs the scariness? The freedom I've found in doing that. I don't have to worry about anything. It is truly in God's hands. If God decides to dump out my desires, then so be it...He is the king after all and He can do whatever He wants with my life :)