Submissiveness (Not My Will But Yours Be Done)

The dictionary defines submission as “the action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person.” Consequently, submitting means putting others before ourselves; it means not always doing what we want to do; it means putting God’s desires above our desires. In effect, we are being submissive in one way or another, even if it’s yielding to traffic laws, paying our taxes, agreeing to work certain hours, and observing COVID-19 health and safety protocols of physical distancing and wearing of face mask and face shield. Moreover, we are being submissive when our government asks us, as government employees, to do something in line with our work and we do it out of love and willingness.

In the story of Job, God said to him, “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way, prosperity will come to you.” Job was a man of integrity; he feared God and stayed away from evil. He had ten children and was a man of great wealth. Later, the Lord allowed Satan to afflict his family, properties, and eventually Job himself. Job grieved deeply but did not charge God with wrongdoing. In the same way, as hardships and problems in our workplace and family confront us, there is no need to murmur about them. Rather handle it without complaints, and humbly draw near and submit to God. The result will be the assurance of gaining the good that follows as God causes everything, bad or good, to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purpose.
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Elisabeth Elliot says, “One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today. If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to him and ask Him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy."   We experience delight in our workplace and in the things that we do when we submit them to God, and in knowing that it is the thing He wants us to do and we do it all for his glory.
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In implication, let us continue to submit to God our life, plans, dreams, and this pandemic and its effects through cordial prayer knowing that God knows best. Finally, as the Lord Jesus said in his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, may this be our confession after submitting to God our concerns, “Not my will, Lord, but yours be done.”  (LCM, CRFV)