Then and Now

Things about our spiritual journey are often seen differently in the beginning than they do after we have been walking the road for a spell.  Reading "Submit yourselves therefore to God..."  (James 4:7) through the eyes of a new believer is easy to understand.  There is no mystery to it.   As a new believer we know exactly what it means to submit ourselves to God.  It is only after walking the road for more than a short way that we begin to figure there might be more to it than is revealed at the first read.     

When we first hear the call of God, we hear it in the context of what we think God wants us to do.  What we think is the starting point instead of searching for what God wants.  The first real Biblical model for submitting ourselves to God is the call of Abram.  In the first verse of Genesis 12 we hear the Lord speaking to the ancient patriarch, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.   Abram's call to submit to God carried with it no specific destination and no particulars about the life which would unfold on the journey.     

Instead of a call to specifics, it was a call to whatever and wherever.  It was a call which centered not around what Abram thought God wanted him to do, but one which centered around whatever it was that God wanted to do in and through him.  What some might say is a play of words is much more.  Submitting ourselves to God means that God's bidding takes precedence over any of our plans, any of our expectations, and any of our desires.  All that matters is what God wants to do in and through our life.