And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. ~ Psalms 9:10
Got a minute for some Christmas tea? Come on you know you want to!!!
Trust and surrender have to be best friends… don’t they??? Does trust come first and then surrender or does surrender come first with trust coming quickly behind???
Being this is the Christmas season… I was thinking about Jesus’ mother, Mary. What a woman she must have been… probably more like a girl at the time when her story with the Messiah begins.
Maybe Mary’s innocence played a part in her trust and surrender of what the angel told her about the conception!
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” ~ Luke 1:30-33
Mary is an incredible example of a humble spirit! Her one question to the angel was, “How can this be, since I am not intimate with a man?” (Luke 1:34 TLV)
After the angel gave her the answer (v. 35) Mary’s next words brought submission and surrender to this epiphany!
Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” ~ Luke 1:38
That is the kind of surrender I want to give! Hands held high… like a child waiting for her daddy to pick her up… “Take all of me! Everything I am! Everything I have!”
Total surrender!
No matter the circumstance!
Do we show such humility as Mary did so when God speaks a word, we surrender ourselves to it and believe it?
My humanness always wants to figure it out… I am not a negative person! I am a realist! And sometimes reality happens to be negative! 😉
Even when my understanding sees this thing as impossible… will I say, “Lord, my mind may be weak, but let it be according to Your word!”
For me… sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to let go of! What is that all about??? Why am I this way? Hmmm… control? Maybe?
I know that what Father God has for me is the best, but instead of raising my hands in surrender… I’m more like shrugging my shoulders with my hands out to my sides. That is a picture God gave me in a dream one night… it is like I am just giving up because He will have His way anyways and not actually surrendering!
So what is the difference between surrender and giving up? Seems like the same thing, doesn’t it?
Giving up has to do with doubt, hopelessness, helplessness, anxiety, DESPAIR! The inner giving-up conversation… “Does God know what is going on with me? Does He even care? Why would He bother with what I am dealing with?” Giving-up declares our circumstance unsolvable. We want what we see as a desirable result and nothing else will do! Giving-up doesn’t move us closer to God… it only fuels our suffering!
And surrender… it requires faith. Remembering God’s faithfulness in past struggles. Believing that He has a perfect plan… far better than what we could imagine! Trusting God’s power to secure what is ultimately for our best. He is a good, good Father, caring, compassionate, loving in our time of need and always! Surrender has nothing to do with our desired result… BUT about humbly submitting to the will of a sovereign God… no matter what happens!
Surrender is not giving up, BUT rather it is putting an end to our God-resistance!
Wowser! As I am writing this… I can see where so much of what I thought I had surrendered was just me giving up!
I either trust God’s faithfulness in all things or not!
I am so thankful for His grace and mercy! We are all a work in progress and surrender plays a HUGE part in this process!
Lord, help me! Surrender my will… surrender my life… COMPLETELY!
In His Grace, Carin
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