Back in March 2020 just 6 months short of my 62nd birthday, I was asked to meet with my workplace department head. It turned out to be a “hard” meeting as I was informed that my company will not be offering me a recontract after I reach the legal retirement age. It took me a while to digest and come to terms as to what was going on. It was “hard” because that wasn’t what I was expecting to hear. I have a clean bill of health and have all along been performing well in my annual appraisals. Why wasn’t I offered a recontract to start off with?

In my mind, I planned to work till at least 67 based on the assumption that I would be re-contracted yearly and perhaps, even beyond that if the labour laws are revised. Thereafter, I want to enjoy life at a slower pace and nurture some of my own hobbies. I would of course continue serving God in the various ministries and capacities. But this was not to be the case. He had other plans. Eventually, I left my marketplace job at the end of March 2021 after working 37 years.

Coincidentally, just about 2 months before this, I was asked if I would consider stepping up to help Emmanuel BP Church. And that was where my current “journey” with God began.

"A conflict was taking place..."

Elizabeth Elliot once shared:

“The struggle Jesus had in the Garden of Gethsemane showed me this. A conflict was taking place — not to annihilate his own will but to accept the will of the Father, which was other than his. It did not end with Jesus saying, “My will is now yours” but with, “Not my will, but yours be done.” The act of praying, far from divesting us of human desires, enables us to lay them before God as very real and pressing and say to him, “Not mine, Lord. Yours.” If we had gotten rid of them, there would be nothing to lay down. There is something terribly down-to-earth about this.”^[1]

*Drawn from a devotional written by Elizabeth Elliot in The NIV Women’s Devotional Bible

Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42) That was a really agonising moment for Jesus even though He knew all along that was the Father’s plan for Him. Jesus willingly laid aside His divinity, His rightful kingly status, His life, in exchange for mankind’s reconciliation to God the Father. You see, there was no other solution. It was and will continue to be a downward spiral if God did not institute this plan.

"God may sometimes deny us what we want in order to give us something far better. "

As the Father Himself said:

“...the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”     (Gen.6:5)

There is nothing that man could do to solve it. God Himself had to come up with the solution by sending His only Son to die in our place to satisfy the justice demand of a Holy God. I’m sure it was painful for Jesus to agree.

Coming back to Elliot, each of us have our own plans and requests. It is perfectly legitimate to “make known” our plans to God. However, do be mindful that they may not be what God wants us to do or have. But making them known to God can make obvious their true nature to us as God lovingly responds by revealing His heart.

God may sometimes deny us what we want in order to give us something far better. We can be assured that the will of God is invariably better. But our having asked for what we wanted now provides the opportunity for us to say like Jesus did, “Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”

And just as the Son laid aside His own will and obeyed the Father’s will completely, all of us are called to full obedience to God’s Word (or the written revelation of His will) in every season of our lives.

For me, I see this setting aside my own “plans” to follow God’s leading in this season of my life as that simple step of obedience of one saved by grace. Not everyone is called to do likewise. But all of us are called to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. And for me, faithfulness means to be willing to lay aside my own idea of retirement and be fully attuned to where the mission of God is leading me to live out the next lap of my life. I am still trusting God to help me keep walking in this path.

Would we be willing to do likewise for our own lives? Will you?