Surrender

James 4:10, Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Most of us experience a time in our life when we face difficulties. That will probably never change. That does not sound very encouraging does it? Difficulties do have a bright side. His name is Jesus, the Light of the World.

Being human is tough enough. Every morning we wake up to a new day not knowing what lies ahead. Our normal is to try and control too much, think too hard and see the future and control it. Do you pride yourself on being smart, strong and resourceful? At the end of a tough day do you feel alone, backed into a corner, defeated and out of options? You don’t have to.

Sometimes I wonder what is on God’s mind when He has all the answers to all our problems and he watches us try to make things better. I wonder if He sits back and watches us swim upstream. I wonder if he crosses his arms and shakes his head wondering how much longer before we stop what we are doing and turn to him.

If we are growing and learning, we realize we are human and we don't have all the control no matter how awesome and capable we are. What if we tried something we may not do often enough? What if we stop, take a moment and know that we don’t have all the answers. What if we stop trying to figure things out and fixing things that are out of our hands, and surrender. Give up on trying to be in control and pray for more wisdom and more release of the authority of your life that you may try to hang on to.

For some of us right now, career decisions, school, even having a job to pay for our next meal is the source of anxiety for our future. God certainly can do miracles in your life. He may very well do that. He may not do that today, when you want it. This is where it gets tough. Wait on him, just wait. He doesn’t respond to your schedule. This is where trusting him more than you trust you, comes in. He may have something he wants you to learn. Prepare yourself to learn. When you pray, ask him to use you during this time so that you will come closer to him and not turn away from him in frustration. Look for opportunities to grow and become the one who is doing the encouraging for others.

How do you surrender, today? Start with letting go of your own will of how you think you can see yourself through these tough moments. Admit that you don’t have to have all the answers all the time. Take a few moments to realize that is what you are doing. Allow yourself to not be this pillar of strength you believe you are. You won’t break, you can still be a pillar, just don’t pretend you are in charge. As you surrender, you will realize that you will never understand the things of God. At the same time, you can live with the confidence that the same God who spoke creation into existence can handle your situation. That same God loves you and cares about you. Let him take care of you, His way and not your way. He created you; He wants to help you. But you have to trust Him.

Pray. Acknowledge to Him in prayer that you don’t want to be in charge of your life any longer. Let Him know in prayer that you are surrendering, falling into His arms and waiting on Him. Let Him know that you want Him to direct your path. Let Him know that you trust Him and then, trust Him. Don’t put time limits on Him. Don’t wait an hour, a day or whatever suits you and give up thinking you gave him long enough. You think he doesn’t know when you are giving up? He does. 

If you asked someone to trust you and you saw they were giving up on you, what would you do? Would you delay and hold back on your help? Would you watch them mess things up and continue to teach them that they need to be patient with you? I wonder what God would do.

Remain humble before the same God that led Moses through the desert. He is on your side. Like a parent to a child who knows more than the child does, God protects us from ourselves if we let him. Let us all be grateful that we have Him on our side. Be grateful that he loves us enough to wait on us instead of being that Father who spoils us and fixes everything we break.

When it comes to God, there is no shame in giving up. Whenever you’re ready, raise your white flag and surrender. He’s waiting for you.

Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Pastor Michael Rodriguez