surrender

DSC06949 publish

It takes courage and a strong personal relationship with God to surrender our will and focus on God’s will for our life. The world and the forces of evil want desperately for us to choose the easy path, the convenient way and not bother with God. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus was not focused on easy. In fact, it shows us and sets the example of what sacrifice looks like and what putting our trust in God can result in. A wonderful Pastor friend in my life taught me a lesson around Easter a few years ago…from the greatest of tragedies, pain and suffering comes the greatest joy, jubilation and triumph.

Jesus while praying in Gethsemane shortly before he was arrested, in one moment was pleading with God to ‘take this cup from me’ and then in the next moment he surrenders, ‘Yet not what I will, but what you will’ Mark 14:36 He knows what it means to suffer…He knows more about suffering, pain and tragedies in this world than many of us will ever see. Trust Him because He did it all for you.

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”

Psalm 37:5-7

(This photo was taken in June of 2013 near Badlands National Park in South Dakota)

In my opinion in our society and our world today…to surrender, by definition is to yield to the power of another, however, to give up is to quit. Depending on your context one is a transition and the other carries a negative connotation or a defeated and deflated feeling. When we listen to the news on TV or read about events online it is easy to feel defeated and deflated by how people in this world choose to treat each other.

Don’t give up…..we live in a fallen world and it is very easy at times to believe that all is lost. The Good News is…that is not true. We practice surrender and don’t give up more often than we realize.

For example, you are sitting at your computer doing the things you love (like reading blogs) and something happens…the computer stops responding and then starts popping up boxes and then the “blue screen”. What happened? You begin to “troubleshoot” with your vast PC knowledge…you are spending hours trying everything to recover what has been lost…a working computer. Alas, you have exhausted your abilities and still nothing. So what do you do? Do you give up? Never use that computer again? No. You surrender to others who have worked on and repaired computers for living, they often work for companies that create and develop new computer technology.

Now back to our fallen world…there we are living our lives doing the things we love when out of nowhere the world seems to stop responding to us and events keep popping up that trouble us and then we lay down in defeat looking up at the “blue SKY”……wow isn’t this a beautiful day!

Don’t give up on this world. Surrender to the Creator…he knows what is troubling you. The best part about faith is it comes with a guide book…the bible. On this blog I have a Favorite Bible Verses page that I will change from time to time. The guide book that has been provided us tells us not to give up but trust in God. Here are two verses I look to:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

“I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord”

Psalm 27:13-14

So take all your problems, all your concerns and lift them up and surrender them to God. He knows you better than you know him and he loves you unconditionally no matter what.

Find your guide book and open it.