How do we yield our strength to God?

Knowing God is strong enough to handle our lives is much easier than trusting our circumstances to his strength. God has given us the ability to learn. God has given us minds that can think, imagine, plan, and choose. How do we know how and when to yield our own strengths and abilities to his higher authority?

Realizing that God’s ways are above the practical understanding of human thought can be unnerving. Knowing we can study and arrive at a practical decision that God might not support can be unsettling. It’s frustrating to know that his ways and his thoughts are higher than our own and could conflict with what we know as just “common sense.” On the other hand, it is comforting to know that our God is never common. He is the Creator God, and “nothing is too hard” for him to handle.

God told Jeremiah to take his money and buy a field, even when the prophet already knew the Chaldeans were about to invade and take the land for themselves. God told Jeremiah to do something that made no sense at the time. God often calls his people to trust him instead of trusting their own understanding. If we limit God’s will to only what makes sense to us at the time, we will miss the chance to walk fully in his plan and purpose.

Jeremiah was called to buy a field of land that would soon be captured by the enemy. The land was located in the promised land, and the deed was to be sealed and put in an earthen jar so the document would last for a long time. Jeremiah was called to invest his money, not in the present circumstances, but in the future. The land would be taken, but God promised that the land would be returned one day. Jeremiah was called to invest what he had in God’s promise, not in the present circumstances.

All Christians are called to God’s purpose. Romans 8:28 promises that God will work all things together for our good if we are called to God’s purpose. What appears to be the best choice today may not be God’s best choice for our future. We can yield our strength to God when we recognize that only God holds the knowledge of his future plans.

That’s why yielding to God’s wisdom is spiritual strength. Only God has the great power to stretch out his arms and do whatever is perfect, whatever is in line with his perfect plan. We are strong and capable people, but we are not wise until we yield our strengths and our plans to God.