Waiting Well–Commit Thy Works Unto the Lord

I’m curious.

As you strive to wait well, do you commit everything you do to God?

Do you fully give Him your dreams and plans? Do you hand them over?

Or are you like me and want to keep a hand, a finger on it; have a small bit of control?

Interestingly, in the KJV Proverbs 16:3 reads:

Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. (Emphasis mine.)

But what’s really fascinating is the Hebrew meanings of these words.

• Commit is ‘gālal’ whose root means “to roll,” as in rolling a stone.
  • I know this seems odd and confusing, but consider life at the time of Solomon and stick with me here.
  • The definition continues, “to remove, to commit, to trust.”
  • To paraphrase the rest of the definition, this word creates a word picture of rolling away our works, deeds, and actions from ourselves and committing them, entrusting them to God. In other words, they are completely out of our hands and in His.
• In doing this, God will establish our thoughts, ‘mahᵃšāḇāh, ’
  • “a thought, a purpose, a device, and intention.”
  • “Largely poetic in its use…means the thoughts or the inventions [plans or intentions] that spring from such thoughts.”
  • Makes sense, right?
•  Established, ‘Kûn’:
  • “to set up, to make firm, to establish, to prepare.”
  • “The primary action of this verb is to cause to stand in an upright position, and thus the word also means fixed or steadfast. It signifies the action of setting in place or erecting an object.”

As I studied the Hebrew words that make up this verse I felt the holy 2×4 once again hit me upside the head. Conviction washed over me.

When we roll a soccer ball to a specific location it’s relatively effortless. Just a nudge or kick and it sails away. However, to roll a soccer ball-sized stone to a specific location takes intentionality, determination, and intense effort. And when we’re determined to keep our hand on it at all times, it doesn’t go anywhere. We retain possession of it.

“IT” is our dreams, plans, aspirations, goals, etc.

As you guessed, when we do that, we aren’t committing anything to Jesus. Nothing. Nada.

Now here is part of what wrecked me this week as I am determined to wait well. (I’ll share the other part next time) The part that makes me so thankful he has me in Ephesians right now. (Yes, we will get back to that.)

When I keep a finger on IT, yes, even if I’ve placed IT in Jesus’ hands, I haven’t handed IT over. Period. I haven’t trusted him with IT. That precious bundle that is my deepest desire. My wildest dream. My passion. My most audacious prayers—I’m keeping IT in my possession determined to have some say, some control over IT. In other words, after all that effort and intentionality of bringing it to Him—I haven’t released IT. I haven’t trusted Him with IT.

Do I want His blessing on IT? YES!
Do I want Him to make IT happen? YES!
Do I want Him to clear and path and make a way for IT? To not just open the right doors, but to blow them off the hinges? YES and YES!

But before He will do any of that I MUST hand It over. I MUST commit IT to Him.

Proverbs 3: 5-6 tells us to trust God. “To be confident. [Trust] expresses a feeling of safety and security that is felt when one can rely on someone or something else.”

And not until we take our whole hand off, fingers and all, will God take IT. And not until HE has possession IT will He establish our thoughts. Stand our purpose upright. And fix our intentions.

This is hard.

So.

Very.

Hard.

Especially for one who likes to have control. For one who tends to wrestle with God.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so My ways are higher than your ways
and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9, NLT

Can you hear the echo of Ephesians 3:20 here?

Beloved, can I just be real for a moment?

I CANNOT MAKE MY DREAMS COME TRUE!

Even those dreams God has planted in my heart.

Especially those dreams He has planted in my heart!

His Purpose. His Plans. His Intentions. His Inventions. They are so far beyond me. So far outside of my comfort zone. They exceed anything I could hope, dream, think or imagine! God is the only one with the power, His power working in me, that can make that happen.

I have to take my hand off the stone. Each and every finger.

And so do you.

Are you ready?

Are you ready for what comes next as we wait well?

I am.

Here I go…one…two…three…release…

Blessings xoxo

All Hebrew definitions are found in:

Warren Baker, Eugene Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003).