Surrender is not a popular word. It implies giving up. Letting go. Losing.
Why are we, like King Zedekiah in Jeremiah 38, so afraid to surrender? In the king's case, surrendering to the enemy did not make any sense. He wanted to fight against the Babylonians, but resistance would be both foolish and futile since God was using this opposing army as His weapon of judgement against Judah. Standing against them would just prolong the agony, not change the outcome. Surrender would mean the city of Jerusalem would indeed be conquered, but not destroyed. King Zedekiah's surrender would not only spare his life, but the lives of his family.
Fear often stands in the way of our obedience. Even when the message to us is clear, we can lack the courage to take the steps of faith required. If we would only realize that surrender is always the safest path.
In a song Steven Curtis Chapman sings, "The Sake of the Call", there is a line that expresses the heart of surrender: "Simply because it is Jesus who called, And if we believe we'll obey."
Believe what?
That the way will be easy? No.
That God can be trusted? Yes.
It is not so much believe what, but believe Who.
It comes down to a matter of trust.
Do I trust the Lord with my life?
In Psalm 81, Asaph in recounting the Lord's provision for the Israelites, records how God tested their faith. When a thirsty people cried out to the Lord, He miraculously provided water. Trust walks hand-in-hand with surrender and must be tried to be true. It is not difficult to surrender to a known, desired outcome, but placing our lives in the care of another when the path ahead may include hardship, takes trusting in the One who holds each moment of every day. We far too often equate surrender with assignments to foreign countries, or testimonies of the Lord's provision through disease or broken relationships, or a variety of other difficulties, forgetting the love of God.
Surrender means relinquishing control and desiring God's plans above our own. In surrendering we are allowing God to embrace us fully.
If we really know God intimately, placing our life in His hands should be easy, because no-one loves or cares for us more. Maybe it is hard, and we are so fearful, because in any other relationship with surrender, love and trust have been accompanied with great risk and at times resulted in deep pain.
Surrender to God is not confining, but defining. It is not debilitating, but liberating. Our lives are not compromised in any way, but instead the Lord's promised truths are experienced as our trust increases.
"We are most fully alive when we are most fully surrendered to God." (Author unknown)
"For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." (2 Chronicles 16:9) Does my life receive the pause of His gaze? Longing to be "completely His."
"All to Jesus I surrender, All to Thee I freely give."
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