Not My Will Part III

(Continuation from Not My Will Parts I & II)

Yes, I said it. As we accept His will for our lives, blessings lie just on the other side...but on the other side of what? 

On the other side of the Valley of Baca (Psalm 84).

The finish line lies on the other side of the Valley of Weeping.

This, and this alone, is the road to Zion, the road that takes us Home, and there is no other way to reach the End, which is the true Beginning, but through the valley.

Psalm 84: Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.

We are on a journey, a pilgrimage, as the Psalmist wrote, and the journey most definitely includes trials and tribulations, offenses and afflictions, pain and sorrow.

Sometimes I feel like, rather than going from strength to strength, I’m going from brokenness to brokenness. And it doesn’t matter how much I dislike that fact (and believe me, I don't like it!), this is the road I am on, His road, the Highway of Holiness, the Ancient Path, the road He has presented to me and the road that I have chosen, a road on which I cannot side-step the pain or thwart the affliction. This is His road, and I must embrace everything He has for me on it, brokenness and all.

Why? Because I have said “yes” to Him, and I have come to realize that this is His process. It is the pattern of this life that He has created. It is how He molds us and shapes us. It is how He prepares us for the plans He has for us, for the good works He has ordained for us to do. It is how He makes us fit for Heaven.

So, I have chosen to say “yes” to His will and keep traveling down this road He has marked out for me, embracing each challenge as it comes, which might mean limping from one mile-marker to another.

Obviously, I could have said “no.” And at any point I could put my head down, avoid His gaze and decide I am going to make my own decisions. I could refuse to accept His will for my life and take a different road, go where I want to go, do what I want to do--what feels good, what I think would make me happy. Yeah, I could do that. The problem is, that road doesn’t go through the narrow gate, and that road most certainly does not lead to Zion.

No, it’s the hard road, the road that goes through the Valley of Baca, the path that descends into the Valley of Death to self, that leads to Zion. There is no other way to get there but to travel this road, to say “no” to self and “yes” to Him, declaring over and over and over again, through the brokenness, through the pain, through the affliction, through the suffering, “Not my will, but Yours.”

And His promise in the midst of it all is His Holy Spirit, the Comforter, His presence. He promises to be with us, to walk with us, to carry us when we cannot even limp the remaining distance. He enables us to travel the road, to embrace the challenge, to die to self, helping us up onto the altar of Romans 12:1 and purifying us through the fire. His desire is to refine us until we look like Him, and if we will surrender to Him, He will do the work. Our part is simply to say “yes." To say "yes," and keep walking.