A Surrendered Life

Psalm 13:5‭-‬6 ESV

As unnatural as it may feel, you and I are created to consciously surrender control of our lives—heart, mind, body, and spirit—to God. We don’t surrender to a theory or a force or the cosmos, but to the one God who is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who has created us, loves us, and set a plan in place to draw us to himself and care for us forever. This is made possible through the person of his Son, Jesus. It’s not enough for us to just know about him. We aren’t convinced to trust by what other people tell us about God or what we’ve read in books. We come to trust him when we know him by experience.

Surrender to God is not a once-for-all, do-it-yourself exercise in self-will. It’s an offering that’s continually undertaken in the context of relationship. The one I am surrendering myself to is no stranger. We don’t have to worry that he will abandon us when we fail or behave badly, because he didn’t choose to love us based on our performance! The relationship we have with him rests entirely on his faithfulness and merit—not our own. God gets plenty personal with his people, and he always proves himself trustworthy and faithful in his interactions with us. We may not understand his ways. We may not always feel comfortable or safe or secure in our obedience, but we trust the God we know by personal experience and then pray for the “grace to trust him more.” 

God’s hope for his children is that we will surrender our fears and worries and cast all our anxieties on him because he cares for us (see 1 Peter 5:7). We’re made to place every aspect of our lives into the very capable hands of our wise, strong, and loving Father. I can surrender my life when I’m confident that the one I surrender to really is my Father, my mighty Warrior, and my King—and the way I come to know this is by experience. The longer I walk with God, the more certain I become that this is true. The more time I spend in his presence, with his people, and in his Word, the surer I am of his wise and loving care. When I see him for who he is and trust his character, I don’t have to be my own ruler anymore. If my God is good, then he is trustworthy too. He knows me, he loves me beyond measure, and he is faithful to keep his promises.

It is the life of surrender we are called into.