If Only ...

 If only we truly understood God's heart, felt His joy, understood the depth of His love and the reasons for His plans...

The Apostle Paul: "I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence." Ephesians 3:9-12 (NLT) 

Paul wrote of one glorious plan that Father God kept secret until the time was right for it to be revealed, but this was only one of His plans, one among countless others - plans intended to give us a bright hope for the eternal future.

"O LORD my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them." Psalm 40:5 (NLT)

"You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!  And when I wake up, you are still with me!"  Psalm 139:16-18 (NLT)

It's a sad irony that some are so easily able to forget who charts our course and holds our future in His hands at any moment of the day when life challenges us to consider the needs and desires of our weak humanity. We weren't created to be our own master and we weren't created to satisfy our own needs and desires. We were created by God for His pleasure and it's His provision that sustains us and answers the desires of our hearts according to His own sovereign will - His pleasure to fulfill. The hand that attends us, continually waits patiently for our submission to put aside any other human emotion or thought and confess the truth of our complete dependence on Him. 

Submission is a word that carries with it a certain learned fear - because we know what human nature is capable of. So the idea of submitting to another human being - even to each other, can immediately bring up certain reservations and reluctance. But we're not talking about submission to the potential wiles of mankind. We're talking here about submitting to the one who desires to be the perfect father to us - not a human father with the potential to fail us, but THE PERFECT, DIVINE FATHER whose love for us is pure, perfect and boundless - arms we can safely fall into without fear.

"God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?" Numbers 23:19 (NLT)

We will not always understand the circumstances and situations that we find ourselves in, but we can always trust that the outcome is going to benefit us somehow when we're in submission to our Father's will and direction. The Jews in Jesus day didn't know what God was doing when He sent Jesus to live among them in human form, but Father God had a plan to rescue us from before time - even then, He was thinking of us. A great many may have rejected Jesus, but the Father's plans never fail. In accordance with one of Father God's many plans, Jesus made it possible for us to be forever free and in His presence.  

We go through life encountering both ease and obstacles, joys and pains, highs and lows, but in all of those things, not only is He with us if we're in submission to Him, but His thoughts about us are constantly for our benefit - even if we don't understand what we're going through.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the LORD. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.” Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NLT)

This is an Old Testament passage, but if you're in submission to our Father and you consider it in light of the New Testament, you know where home is ...

Submission - to His Children, ... it's the pathway home.

"No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 (NLT)