The Key to a Happy Heart

  I've found something this week, and I want to share it with you. It's called submission, and it brings peace. 


  Up until now, I thought I was living in submission to Christ. However, I spent a lot of time worrying, fretting, and trying to figure out my own life. I don’t know about you, but I can worry about literally anything, without even trying hard. For instance, I can worry about the question, “Do I have enough faith for the Lord to fulfill His purposes in my life?” Sadly, worrying about that sort of thing seems to drain the faith right out of my life! 


  This is exactly what happened to me last Saturday. I got upset, worried, and sad. I lost my peace. I started demanding things from God, and telling Him that if He didn't intervene, I would take matters into my own hands. 


  Thank the Lord, He did intervene! Through a wonderful book by Catherine Marshall, He showed me that I need to wait for Him. That godly waiting requires the death of worry and of doing things my own way. The same day, I heard a sermon where the preacher said that God doesn't have to tell me His plans. It's a simple fact that is so hard for us to understand! He doesn't have to tell us the what, the when, and the how. He has the right to keep His plans to Himself. 


  John 12 is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible. In it, Jesus is talking about His coming death. He has just finished telling us to follow Him, when He says, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name.” -John 12:27-28


  There it is! That is submission. Jesus was troubled...like you and I often are. In this portion of Scripture, Jesus graciously allows us to see His thought process. He considers asking His Father to deliver Him from death, but He can't do it. Out of His heart comes the lovely phrase, “Father, glorify thy name.” 


  This is the heart that our Father wants to see in us. A heart that, instead of demanding our own plans, in our own way, and at our own time, is okay with God’s plans, in God’s way, and at God’s time. 


  The world hates the idea of submission. That is one of the big reasons that some people don't like the Bible. The Bible teaches that children should submit to their parents, wives should submit to their husbands, church members should submit to their pastors, citizens should submit to their government, and Christians should submit to God. It sounds like a negative thing to the human ear, but that’s only because we don't understand it. A submissive heart comes from a place of love, trust, and faith. It brings joy, peace, contentment, and rest. It yields to the will of our Father, and says with Jesus, “Father, glorify thy name.” 


     “There is a place of quiet rest, 

       Near to the heart of God; 

       A place where sin cannot molest, 

       Near to the heart of God. 


       There is a place of comfort sweet, 

       Near to the heart of God; 

       A place where we our Saviour meet, 

       Near to the heart of God. 


        There is a place of full release, 

        Near to the heart of God, 

        A place where all is joy and peace, 

        Near to the heart of God. 


         O Jesus, blest Redeemer, 

         Sent from the heart of God; 

         Hold us, who wait before Thee, 

         Near to the heart of God.” 


                 -Cleland Boyd McAfee


                   

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