Posts Tagged: surrendering to God
“What I Can Do Better than God”
I have been struggling with the idea of surrendering to God here of late. It seems as if everything I read or hear is asking me to give up every attempt to be in charge. Even the bone spurs in my right heel are screaming at me about surrender.
Also, I began rereading an old book, published in 1952, called The Christians Secret of a Happy Life. You’ll never guess what the book is about. Okay, I’ll tell you. It is about surrendering your entire self and life to God. I was hoping that the “secret” would be something else.
So, I whined to my significant other, “You know, I don’t like the idea of giving everything over to God.” She shot back with an exceedingly helpful question. “So, what do you think you can do better than God can?”
Ouch! They say that truth hurts. And they know what they are talking about—whoever “they” may be.
As I understand the Bible, humankind has wanted to be in charge since shortly after our creation. I don’t think that it has worked out very well. Since I am human, I also participate in this nonsense.
But my wife’s question keeps echoing in my mind. What can I do better than God? Why am I afraid to surrender everything to God? What do I think God is going to do that is not precisely the right thing? Wouldn’t I want those “God things” to happen if I had a lick of sense?
And why not try it, in any case? After all, I haven’t done such a hot job of running my own life. Ruining it, maybe; but not running it. Maybe, just maybe, God would do a better job.
“MAKING THE DECISION TO TURN MY WILL AND LIFE OVER TO THE CARE OF GOD”
It is always the supposedly simple stuff that trips me up. You too?
Take, for example, step 3 of the twelve steps. It sounds simple enough. “We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood God.”
I am taking my car in for an oil change today. I will turn my car (and some money) over to my oil change folks. I trust them. No problem!
Of course, my will and my life is a lot more inclusive and serious than my beat-up Honda Civic. But then too, God is probably somewhat more trustworthy than my oil change guys. (Sorry guys, nothing against you!)
My journal entry this morning was as follows:
“Wednesday, October 17, 2018
To live for God, I must surrender my will and my life into his hands.
And what do I think God will do with my will and my life? Am I afraid? Why? Do I know God so slightly, do I take God’s love so lightly, that I find it so hard to trust him? Really???
And yet, I do in fact find it hard to let go of my will and my life. And what do I get when I cling so tightly? Clenched fists, that’s all.
God help me to let go and let You, today. Tomorrow’s struggle is tomorrow’s struggle. Today, help me to let go.”
I remember reading about two ladies who were talking about surrendering their lives completely to God, and loving God totally. (I am sorry, I’ve forgotten the source and some of the details, but the following is how I remember it.) One of them was having trouble with the very idea of surrender. What if God wanted her to do something really awful?
Her friend, who was somewhat further along in the process of surrender, knew that this fearful woman had a young son that she loved very much. So her friend used him to illustrate what it was like to surrender to God.
“Suppose that Charlie came to you and said, from the bottom of his loving little heart, ‘Momma, I just want to love you completely. You can do anything you want with me!’ What would you do?”
Charlie’s mother said, “Why, I would scoop him up in arms and smother him with kisses!”
And her friend said, “Do you suppose that you love Charlie more than God loves you?”
Perhaps I find it so difficult to surrender my will and life to the care of God, because I’m not sure that God really cares.
I am comforted somewhat by the words in step three “. . . as we understood God.” The truth is that I don’t really understand God very well. But I have a hunch, and the hunch is this: I will never begin to understand God, until I have practiced step 3 for a while. No matter how falteringly I do so, no how fearfully, I need to surrender my will and my life to the care of God, as I understand God.
Surrender takes courage, and I don’t have that much. I’ll use whatever courage I have. Who knows? If I surrender to God, I might find more courage.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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