Roll It, Roll It, Roll It

I love, love, love words. The way they sound, the nuances of their meanings, their captivating history … In a world in which choices could be made solely on wants, I would have been an etymologist, one of those blessed people who get to wallow to their heart’s delight in the origin and history of words. Talk about a dream career! But life—not to mention God’s will—being what it is, career choices took more practical turns; nonetheless I find myself grateful to be able to indulge, even if in minuscule proportions, in digging out golden word nuggets here and there …

Yesterday’s treasure? The word “commit” (galal) in Proverbs 16:1,”Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.”

Strong defines the Hebrew word there as meaning “to roll, roll down, roll way, remove.” There are several places in the Bible in which variations of this word are used. One is in Joshua 5:9, where the Lord tells Joshua He had “rolled away the reproach of Egypt” from off His people. Which is why that particular place, a place where the Hebrews renewed their commitment, came to be called Gilgal, a word related to the galal commitment of Proverbs 16:1. Its meaning? “Circle of stones, a wheel, a rolling away.”

My NKJV study Bible says this word, galal, brings up “the picture of a camel, burdened with a heavy load. When the load is to be removed, the camel kneels down, tilts to one side, and the load rolls off.”

Instead of the popular children’s song Let It Go, I think Christians should adopt a song with lyrics along the line of,“Roll It, Roll It, Roll It Off—on God”. The question is, how does this “roll it off” translate into practical terms for our daily life?

Ephesians 2:10 says that we have been created in Christ Jesus to do good works “which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Before we took our first squawking breath in this world, God knew our end from our beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10) and He prepared works just for us! Those are the lines of inheritance spoken of in Psalm 16:6 that God has given His children in the New Covenant, and they are each and every one good! Why then, should our soul be tortured?

Sometimes the reason is simply this: we have failed to, camel-like, roll our burdens off our own backs and onto God’s. We have failed to let go of our yearnings instead of embracing what our faithful Creator has planned for us—or our loved ones.

For years (not hours, not weeks, not months, but years), I cried in anguish for things I wanted for my grandchildren. Then one day (finally!), God elbowed me strongly enough to catch my undivided attention. In that divine nanosecond, He reminded me of what He had taught me early in my walk with Him: to distinguish my will from His, all I had to do was lay my soul’s desires on the altar Abraham/Isaac like.

God had brought me to this truth through my grandmother’s tutelage with regard to attraction to the opposite sex. How can you know if the person you are attracted to is "The One"? You simply, like Abraham did his son, lay the person you are attracted to on the altar. You pray, “Lord, if this relationship is what You want for me, I bless it in Jesus’ name. But if it is not, I break it in the name of Jesus “ (see Matthew 18:18-20). This laying on the altar business worked 100% of the time for me boyfriend-wise. The hankerings that were not from God were squelched, while the relationship that was God’s choice was blessed.

I just never thought to extrapolate this spiritual exercise into other areas. But guess what--it worked!

As soon as I laid those wants for my grandchildren on God’s altar, for Him to bless if they were His will for them, for the first time in forever (or at least since I had grandkids), peace enveloped my heart. I didn’t have to squirm and strain in anguish for those blessings I deemed needs in the lives of my loved ones. I simply rolled my longings onto Jesus. He knew how to bless my grandchildren best, how to bring His purpose into their lives. Doesn’t 1 Peter 4:19 say that we should commit our souls (the seat of our desires) unto Him, “as unto a faithful creator”?

In rolling my anguish-wracked desires onto this faithful Creator, the words of Psalm 16:11 came to pass, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in thy presence is fullness of joy.”

Now go forth—and roll!

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).