Having taxied to the runway with a squirming toddler (who had to stay buckled in until airborne), my flight was suddenly delayed. Agonising minutes passed. The in-flight entertainment clicked on. “Oh no, please Lord, don’t let it be an hour,” I prayed. And when the next sitcom episode started, “Please Lord, not two hours.”
“Pray something else!” I felt God say. So instead of praying for a change of circumstances, I asked for what I needed to endure them: “Lord, give me grace to look after my child for as long as this delay takes.”
I learnt a valuable lesson that day about God’s “good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). Sometimes, He isn’t just going to ‘airlift’ me out of tough times; He wants me to seek His strength and presence through them. I think this is part of what Paul means when he calls us to be a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). No longer am I living for my own agenda but surrendering to God’s.
“Be transformed,” Paul says (v. 2). Or, as God prompted me, “Pray something else.” Rather than only asking God to change our adverse circumstances (a very natural response), God invites us to entrust our needs and circumstances to Him.
Of course, we can always pray for rescue. But perhaps we can learn to seek something deeper too: “Lord, show me Your will in this; give me what I need to endure it.”
By Debbi Fralick
REFLECT & PRAY
What trials are you going through at the moment? How might your prayers deepen as you reflect on God’s “good, pleasing and perfect will”?
Lord God, I long for rescue from my suffering. But I know You are greater than anything I face and will give me all I need to endure it.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Romans 12 marks a turning point in Paul’s letter. Previously the apostle had been explaining the work of God in salvation, describing Jesus as the second Adam who came to redeem what had been lost through our first parents’ disobedience in Eden. Now he turns his attention to the way this salvation is to be lived out by those bought by Christ’s sacrifice. It starts with the redeemed becoming a “living sacrifice” (v. 1), whose focus is on being useful to God in the lives of others. This is followed by a list of spiritual gifts to equip God’s children in service to others ( vv. 3–8). Another group of spiritual gifts appears in 1 Corinthians 12:7–11, and a list of leadership roles (gifts to the church) is found in Ephesians 4:11. Through the provision of these gifts and roles, the Spirit enables us to be useful in our spiritual service.
Bill Crowder
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