I do. And I don't mean trying to make it funny, although there are some amusing versions floating around the internet that have some merit. But sometimes the format of the Serenity prayer comes to mind with a twist. The latest for me is God, grant me the determination to do the things I can and need to do, the humility to let you have the rest, and the wisdom to know the difference.
I do have a part to play. God gives us acts of love, obedience and service. The great thing is that He also supplies us with all we need to do them. The truth of the matter is that there is nothing that I can do all on my own, nothing right and loving anyway. Even believing is not all me. Faith is a gift. No one comes without the Holy Spirit calling them. God chose us and gave us the ability to say yes to the call. But we do have a part. We still have to choose to say yes. We still have to kneel in the garden of our hearts and say not my will but Yours be done. Daddy gives us what we need to do what we need to do, understanding, ability, power, everything, but we still have to do it. We have to say yes to His will and surrender our own.
It's like we have a spiritual recipe with all the ingredients, step-by-step directions, even right-by-our-side help, and anything else we may need to take the fruit and the Bread and make something awesome with which we and others can taste and see that the Lord is good. But what Daddy doesn't do is tell us to go relax and have a seat while He does all the work in the kitchen. He wants to work with us, as well as in and through us. It's something that brings us closer together. It bonds us and unites us and draws us deeper into relationship At the same time it teaches us to rely on Him, that we can trust Him, His love and His provision. We become a piece of the recipe. Look what God can do! He makes us a part of His work, instruments of His love, reflections of His light in the darkness.
So we do always have a part to play in what God is doing in and through us, even if that part if only to say yes to what He wants to do. Sometimes our part really is that small. Lord, I surrender to Your desire to mold me and shape me. Sometimes it is a matter of obedience and staying the course. No, I will not surrender to this desire of the old me and to this temptation. I choose to say not my will but His be done, and since I know that this is not His will, I will not do it. It may feel that saying no and fleeing temptation by looking for the always provided way of escape takes all we are and have, every inner resource. Sometimes it does take all of us. That's why Paul would write things like and having done all, everything that you can until there is nothing left, to stand, keep standing. Because while it may feel like we are bearing a load beyond what we can take or carry, the truth is that Daddy is really doing all the heavy lifting.
I remember one time I was moving something with my little brother. I knew I couldn't tell him to just get out of the way because it would be easier to simply do it myself without hurting his feelings, so I let him help. But while it became obvious quickly that he wouldn't be much help, I enjoyed having him with me and doing it together. I managed to grab a hold of the piece of furniture in such a way that I could carry it myself, at the same time he grabbed a hold of one end. The way he was grunting and groaning, I knew he felt like he was doing a big part, and it became a team effort...until he slipped. When he slipped, he let go of his end of what we were moving. When it didn't drop, he realized that I had it all along. Doing our part with God is a lot like that. He wants us involved. He wants us working with Him. He wants it to be a team effort, but no matter how heavy your end feels, He's the one with the weight, and if you slip, He's got it and you.
But while we have a part, our part doesn't earn His part. What I mean by that is Daddy is not sitting back going you better do your best, all you can, and when I think you're trying hard enough or stepping out in enough faith, then I will step in and do the part that you can't do. It's not do all you can do and then God will help you. That's religion. Do this, be this, try hard enough, perform to a certain level and then God will respond. No. No. NO. Grace came first. Daddy knows what we need before we even ask, and He provided the answer before we even thought to cry out for help. He carried our burden, our guilt our shame, and every weight of fear, doubt, loneliness and emptiness. He did all that we could never do, first, and then, while He already had the load, He allowed us to help, to enter into relationship, to add what we could do to what He already did. What we do, can do, want to do, however our part is manifest, does not force or inspire God to help us. We don't have to do our 1% before He will do the other 99.
God is our refuge, where we can take shelter from what is happening, our strength, the power to do what needs to be done, and an ever-present help in times of trouble. Ever-present help means just that. He is always there, and when trouble comes, when struggle comes, when suffering, sorrow and difficulty arise, and they will, help is there and available. Always. At every moment. Not when you do a certain amount or put in enough effort. Our part is our response to Him carrying the load and asking us to join Him. It's not the condition that causes Him to do His part.
Today, let us do all we can to love, to serve, and to obey, and let us trust Him to do all that needs to be done that we can't do. Let us ask for the wisdom of the Spirit to know the difference. But let us not fall into the lie that what we do controls Daddy's actions or love or that we must earn His favor, help or love.
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