I grew up in a traditional, pentecostal church. We opened the Church Hymnal every service and sang at least one hymn, followed by a varying number of simple choruses. I am immensely thankful for this heritage. I learned many foundational concepts and He often brings those hymns and choruses to mind to encourage me.
One hymn among the rotation was I Surrender All and the Lord recently began dealing with me about the idea of surrender. For a time, it seemed that I heard and read this word everywhere. When I listened to music, picked up my Bible, or heard others speak, “surrender” was all I could hear.
One day the Lord took me to Psalm 10:4. In the Voice it reads, “The arrogance of the wicked one keeps him from seeking the True God.” The Hebrew word for arrogance in this verse is gobah. It means height, exaltation, pride, elation, or grandeur.
As I sat with the Lord on this concept of surrender, I found myself confused. I have spent more time with the Lord in the last year of my life than ever before. I have been on the sweetest journey of drawing close to Him, giving Him my time, my will, and my emotions. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand what else I had to surrender. All I wanted was more of Him and that was a good thing, right? As I readied myself for bed one night, I said to God, “I don’t know what else to give You.”
The answer came the next morning. I opened my eyes and the voice of the Lord spoke and said, “Surrender your longings.” I had spent the entire day prior telling the Lord how much more of Him I longed to experience. The psalmist wrote, “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” (Psalm 34:8). My heart had tasted and my soul longed for more.
Verse 14 of the same Psalm reads, “The helpless, the orphans, commit themselves to You,” (The Voice).
To surrender is to become helpless before God. It is to posture my heart away from arrogance, independence, and self-sufficiency and replace it with humility and submission. Look back at the definition of arrogance in verse 4 and consider what you know of those who are exalted to a high position of grandeur. Without the Lord, they become prideful and self-sufficient.
To surrender is to abandon outcomes to God, even when I could control them myself. Surrender is a choice and Abba is The God of free will.
To surrender requires trust. After all, I can only abandon outcomes to God if I believe He has my best interest at heart. David Benner wrote, “Ignatius of Loyola suggests that sin is ultimately a refusal to believe that what God wants is my happiness and fulfillment,” (Sacred Companion, p. 39). Ultimately, hasn’t He promised plans to prosper and not to harm us, to give us a hope and future (Jeremiah 29:11)?
Friend, what are you holding onto today? What outcome are you trying to control? Where are you choosing independence and self-sufficiency (arrogance) over surrender? Can I challenge you to take it to the One who is trustworthy and ask, “Will You show me how to surrender this area of my life to You?”
-Liz Cox