A willingness to pray “God, do what You must.”
If you’re a parent, you’re a ‘fixer’. It’s what we do. Whatever the situation, we’re always at-the-ready to find a solution, make it better, fix what is broken or soothe what is hurt. We hate to see our kids in pain or dealing with hardship. Our hearts hurt to know that they grieve or struggle. When we see it, we jump to try and fix it.
Yet, sometimes we can’t fix it. It’s not that we don’t want to, it’s that we’re unable to. That’s a hard place to be, isn’t it? When our son or daughter is going through a hard time, it’s difficult to watch and we want, more than anything, to make it better. But sometimes it’s beyond our ability. And if our son or daughter is running from God, we can’t change their heart or bring repentance. That’s something only God can do. No matter how much we desire it, we cannot ‘will’ them to change.
We become like the little child, bringing the much-loved broken toy to our Father saying ‘fix it’, ‘heal it’, ‘make it better’. But sometimes the situation and damage requires intervention that is difficult to watch and painful to endure. We don’t want our son or daughter going through pain- we’ve spent our lives working to spare them from it! We don’t want to see things get worse- our entire prayer directive has been that it would be made better.
It’s akin to someone needing a heart transplant. The hope for life and health lie in getting a new heart. But it’s not that easy. First, a new heart must come from a donor, someone who lost their life and was willing to donate their organ to be a life-saving opportunity for someone who is dying. Then, the patient must be willing to undergo extensive transplant surgery. They’re surgically opened up and their old heart is removed and the new one is put in place. It is radical, painful, and dangerous. But the hope for life overrides the fear of pain and the anxiety about the procedure. And the hope for life requires that the patient undergoes the painful process.
Friends, the prodigal has the same need. They need a new heart. Their current heart is damaged and diseased. Their situation will surely lead to death, perhaps not a physical death, but a spiritual death looms.. The enemy laughs and takes delight in the slow demise and the sure destination that a prodigal life assures. The process required to remedy this direction and destination means the prodigal has to die to themselves and be willing to allow the Lord to give them a new heart to remedy the damage that’s been done. It’s a painful process. It’s difficult to watch and we know what needs to happen. But it’s excruciating to see our son or daughter go through difficulty, pain, and suffering. But when we’ve done all we can and there is still no change, we need to step back and allow God to work.
Friends, are we willing to pray, “God, do what You must”?
Are we willing to pray, “God, do what you must”? That’s a hard prayer. It’s an anguished prayer. It’s a prayer of surrender, acknowledging that the rescue is beyond our ability to achieve. This prayer requires that we not interfere with what God chooses to do. We have to squelch the urge to rush in and rescue, to mitigate the painful consequences, to redeem the bad choices, to make it better, because really, we won’t make it better, we’ll only prolong the process. When we truly turn our son or daughter over to God to work as He wills, it is the ultimate act of trust. It’s trusting Him that He can parent them better than we can. It’s trusting that our God loves them more than we do. It’s trusting that His ways are higher than our ways and that He is the only One who can effect change and redeem the wayward heart. It requires full surrender on our part to achieve surrender in their heart.
It requires full surrender on our part to achieve surrender in their heart.
“God, do what you must, and help me to trust You.” It’s a prayer of surrender. Here’s another question…if we’re not willing to pray that prayer, are we fully surrendered to the Lord? Do we love Him more than we love our son or daughter? Do we trust Him enough? It requires some introspection into our own hearts and attitudes. It’s a peeling away of those things we’ve trusted other than the Lord. It’s a purifying of our own faith. We must be willing. But we can be honest with God, too, and tell Him how it scares us, because that prayer does bring fear of what may come. But, brothers and sisters, He is Lord of what may come. We need to rest in His goodness.
“God, do what you must, and help me to trust You.” Continue praying that prayer. Every moment, every day. Breathe it out. Remind yourself that God is Sovereign and He can do whatever He wills. He WILL do whatever He wills. We can either accept and support it, or fight it and be miserable. We must trust the Great Physician. He is able to give the prodigal a new heart and a surrendered spirit. Ezekiel 11:19 “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:12-14
Today, write out a prayer of surrender and trust to the God who is able to do more than we could ask or imagine. He spoke all of creation into existence. He subdues nations. He rules over every power and principality. He can turn a heart of stone into a heart of flesh, tender and surrendered to the Lord. Trust Him. Ask HIm to work mightily and to show you that He is working and moving. Remember, His timeline doesn’t mirror our own, but He is Lord of the clock, Lord of the calendar and Lord of the one He created… He loves the prodigal and longs to see them return. Trust Him.
God is not done working!
Pray without ceasing, friends.