I was just reading Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening devotional for this evening, and it referred to Job 22:21. In the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), it says, “Agree with God, and be at peace; in this way good will come to you.” In the NIV (New International Version), it says, “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.” The tricky part of the translation is the Hebrew verb SKN. In this stem, it seems to mean be reconciled with God.
I sure understand that. I don’t know what it is about me that makes me struggle against what God wants for me. I will have a sense that God is leading me in a particular direction and there’s a part of me that will immediately go the other direction. I did it in a big way when I was running away from the call to vocational ministry. Now I do it in smaller ways.
The common thread is that whatever God is calling me to is always better than the alternative plan I have in mind. Once I finally give up on fighting God, once I agree with or submit to or am reconciled withGod, there is peace. It always works out better too. Even when I can’t figured out how it could possibly work out beforehand.
Maybe you can be wiser than I am: “Agree with God, and be at peace; in this way good will come to you.”
