Becky Crenshaw

I’ve been reading through Proverbs recently. Just one chapter a day according to the date. This is a simple approach to daily Bible reading, but when school is wrapping up late May and your brain all but stops working, an easy approach to ANYTHING is, well, more approachable.

When reading Scripture, I always take note when something jumps off the page. A word or phrase. If this happens to you, don’t disregard. I find the Lord often has something for me right there… An invitation to dig deeper into something that, on another day, I may glance over without second thought.

Today, this happened.

Proverbs 16:3. This verse already highlighted from another morning’s quiet time who-knows-when-ago. The yellow from it’s marking a bit dingy, indicating its age. Not fresh and vibrant like more recent ink.

Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.

I had underlined “plans” on a previous day. Telling me that this word was the focus of my morning back then. But not today.

Today the word that jumped: Commit.

This is the word.

What does it really mean to “commit” actions to the Lord? I have a lot of actions in a day. A lot of “plans” as other translations state.

So, Solomon, do tell.

If the promise is “succeeding” how does one commit actions to a Living God?

The Word in Hebrew is GALAL and its definition surprised me.

galal (v) to roll, remove, run down, to flow down.

It’s a fascinating word, actually. Used in scripture on many momentous occasions.

• The Lord “rolling away” the reproach of Egypt from Joshua
• Speaking of Saul building a sacrifice after the people had slaughtered animals improperly
• Prophesying the coming Messiah in Isaiah 9 and how he will “”galal” the heavy burdens from His people

I could go on.

But here is this same word speaking to me. To you. About our plans or actions.

“Commit” as defined in Proverbs 16 has one of those definitions that make you go, “whoa, God. Now that is cool.”

Here it is: Galal: To commit all thy concerns to God. Commit to Jehovah whatever thou doest. (and my personal favorite…) To roll upon Jehovah thy way.

Mmmmmm.

The idea of galal is best described as that of a camel bearing a heavy load upon its back. The only way for that camel to release its load is to kneel down, bend forward and let the burden “galal” down. Roll off.

Oh friend. Do you see it too?

The ONLY WAY for the load to come down is to kneel down, and bend forward.

And like He does, God takes the load into His lap so we can rise up… light and free.

There it is. This is how our actions succeed: Full surrender.

So countercultural.

So “not May”…

When there are literally 12 things on all of our “must get done today” lists…. God says – “kneel down, let me take that.”

Gah, I just love Him.

So! If, like me, you are drowning in the throws of “Maycember” and you feel your brain has stopped working, too, kneel down and let it roll off. Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.