Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will freely forgive. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.” This is the LORD’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”     Isaiah 55:7-9 HCSB

I’m not proud to admit that when I was younger, I was spoiled. I wanted things to go my way. I’ve tried to get better with that because I’ve learned it’s not my way that’s important, but it’s God’s way. It took some years for me to understand this.

I was saved at the age of 12. I loved the Lord and I think my salvation served me well through my teen years. But (there’s always a but isn’t there?) after I got into college, I started to do things my way. I wasn’t so concerned with doing things God’s way. My way led to problems, big problems and heartache.

Interestingly enough instead of accepting responsibility for my actions, I turned from God. Oh, I still went to church every 2-3 weeks and I still paid my tithe, but I had intentional sin in my life. Hebrews 10:26 tells us if we go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for our sins but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries. When we sin, we are God’s enemy or adversary. Note it does not say this will wait until we die and are judged, we may face trouble here on earth as a result of our disobedience.

I came through my troubled times, straightened myself up and dedicated myself to the Lord. I still rebelled against Sunday School thinking I had learned all I needed to know attending in my younger years. Boy, was I wrong. I am still learning in God’s word. I have come to love studying His word. I see many others in the Bible that made the same mistakes I made and continue to make. I see God’s redemption and restoration to those who truly repent and commit and surrender to Him.

I did well for a while, but things didn’t go my way and I fell off track again. God didn’t cut me any slack things didn’t go well the whole time I acted like a little child throwing a temper tantrum. I did things my way but went to church half the time and paid my tithe. I thought this was good enough. But God knew my heart. He saw that my heart was not into loving Him and serving Him. He saw that I was not loving Him with my whole heart because if I was, I would have been serving Him. I would have prayed to Him about everything, and I would have had a deeper desire to study His word. But you guessed it, doing things my way didn’t work out so well. It was chaos leading from one disaster to another. I grew tired of living that way. I began to feel like the poor Israelites wondering around in the wilderness for 40 years trying to make a journey that should have taken two weeks.

So finally, I committed to Jesus Christ. I trusted in Him with my whole heart. I began to pray about everything. I began to really enjoy studying His word. I surrendered my way. That was the game changer. I came to understand that His ways are higher than my ways. Those times when I didn’t get my way was because God knew what was best for me. He worked all things out for my good, but I didn’t come to realize this until I surrendered to Him. I thought things were falling apart, but He was just putting them into place.

If you are not getting your way, maybe it’s time you surrendered your life to Him and did things His way. I have come through some hard times since I devoted my life to Him, but He has walked me through them. Doing things His way has brought me safely through on the other side.

He wants to walk with you if you will let Him. He wants to bring you victory if you will only surrender to Him. Stop being a spoiled brat and accept the fact that His ways are higher than your ways. He wants to help you, but you must surrender to Him.

Have a great day!