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Read – Isaiah 60

God wants more for us than we want for ourselves. Have you ever stopped to think about that? One of my favorite verses is Ephesians 3:20 which tells us “God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” But it is even more than that, more than His ability. He is certainly able to do more than we can imagine but He also desires to do more. Isaiah 60:17 says, “Instead of bronze, I will bring you gold, and silver in place of iron.” The problem is, sometimes, in our eyes, this looks like unanswered prayers.

My sister-in-law brought the Isaiah verse up to me recently and it really challenged my thinking. If I truly want to live the life God calls me to, I must be willing to let go of my hopes and dreams in favor of God’s perfect plan. Sometimes, that means letting go of the things I think I want or need in favor of what God says is best. That is hard for the control freak in me. It’s also hard for the child in me who wants what I want, when I want it. But when I read these verses, I realize how silly my thinking is. I am asking for bronze when God wants to give me GOLD. Who would want bronze instead of gold?

Instead of looking at my prayers as unanswered I need to rest in the truth. God has something better for me. That will probably look entirely different than I expect but that is the amazing thing about God – He is so much bigger than our expectations.

Is it possible there is something in your life God wants you to lay down? Maybe He is just waiting to hand you gold instead of the bronze you’ve been hanging onto?