As a Christian, can I truly surrender my life to God without trusting Him? Can I trust Him and yet not fully surrender to Him? Must surrender and trust co-exist before both are genuine? And, where does obedience fit with a life of surrender and trust?
I have been asking the Lord for years to show me what true surrender looks like. I want my life to become that picture for others to see, especially my daughters. I see other women that I believe have truly surrendered their lives and I am amazed. A young friend of mine has answered the call to be a missionary in Africa . She has surrendered her life to the Lord, going back to Tanzania Africa grows daily. I don’t get to talk to my friend about this as she lives out of state, but in her Facebook posts I can see her heart. As she has surrendered her life to the Lord, she has influenced others to do the same. When I think of surrender, I think of her. She has laid her life before the Lord, willing to go exactly where He leads. Her life is not her own, her life belongs to the Lord. And as a result, the Lord is blessing her immensely.
When I think of trust, of someone who truly trusts the Lord with all her heart, I think of another friend. She is older than I am, and has taken me under her wing. She has seen many hardships in her life, yet many more blessings. Over the years God has proven Himself faithful to her, so she trusts Him. This is a deep, intimate, secure trust. When I hear her testimony, I wonder how she could not trust Him. However, her trust in the Lord started during one of the hardest battles in her life. In the midst of a terrible storm, when she could not see any positive outcome in her future, she decided to trust the Lord. She decided to trust that He would carry her through the storm, that He would mend broken relationships and restore what was taken from her. Not only did God heal and restore, He intensified the love in this broken relationship. I truly believe that God has blessed her simply because she decided to trust in Him. Hearing her testimony, I know this step of trust was not easy. She still could not see the future, but she chose to take God at His word, to trust Him. I don’t think her entire heart was on board at first, but as she learned to trust a little more each day, God won her heart completely and developed an unwavering trust deep inside.
Surrender and trust. They are two completely different ideas, yet I believe feed off of each other. When I surrender my life, I am freely giving every part of it to the Lord. I am not holding back anything. I am laying my life at my Savior’s feet and allowing Him to do what He wants in and through me. I am literally saying to Him “I will go where you lead me.” This is a huge commitment. I am not going to surrender anything I am or have to someone I don’t trust.
Trust is believing the Lord wholly and completely. It is acknowledging who He is and taking his word as true. Trust is knowing that the Lord has your best interest at heart and allowing Him to lead your life. When I think of my older friend and the depth of her trust, I see the joy it brings her. Even in the midst of a recent, sudden storm, she trust the Lord and it reflected in her physically. She was shaken and tired, yet she was always speaking of the goodness of the Lord and His mercy to carry her through. She was able to smile in the midst of the storm because she trusted in the Lord and His sovereignty over this storm.
I believe that surrender calls for trust, and trust calls for a surrendered life. Yet I see in my life that the two do not always go hand in hand. Through the years of prayer about what a surrendered life looks like, I have been given many pictures and examples. It is sad to say that many of the pictures in my own life reveal a lack of surrender. I guess the best way to see what surrender looks like is to see what it does not look like. So now, I have thrown my hands in the air and laid my life before the Lord. I believe that, as best I can, I have surrendered my life to the Lord. I will go where He leads, I will do what He has called me to do. Trust, on the other hand, is something I thought I had in my life yet more recently am seeing that it is not really there. I confess with my mouth that I trust the Lord, yet my actions don’t convey that. In my heart I want to go where he leads me, yet when it comes to taking that first step on the long journey, I hesitate. I begin to go back to square one with the Lord and ask Him the same questions I have asked a million times. I am not sure why the first answer did not suffice. I guess I just needed reassurance. Wait, if I need reassurance then I don’t really believe the first answer He gave me. I am not trusting the Lord. (Let me say this… it is wise to seek the Lord and be confident of what He is telling you before you begin what He has asked of you. However, when you have your answer from the Lord, don’t go back and second guess Him. This is a lack of trust.)
My missionary friend trusts the Lord and has surrendered her life to serving in Africa . My older friend has surrendered her life to the Lord because she trusts Him and his promises. I would not hesitate for a moment to say that because of their trust and surrender, both ladies are obedient to the Lord. When He calls, they do not give lip service, saying they are going to follow His lead. No, these ladies actually do what they say they are going to do. They follow. They take that first step, then the next, until they are walking closely with the Lord, obedient to His will. It may be going to Africa . It may be sharing the gospel with a next door neighbor. Whatever He asks, they do. Granted, they may hesitate. They may question God about his calling. They may have a moment of fear and timidity, but in the end, they are obedient.
As I am dealing with my trust, surrender and obedience, I am reminded that God is not finished with me. I know that He has began a good work in me and will follow it through to completion. Part of this work is increasing my trust, revealing to me the beauty of a surrendered life, and giving me freedom that only comes out of obedience to Him. I pray that as the Lord calls you to trust, surrender and obey that you will do just that. It is not easy when we have been betrayed or hurt by others, but we must remember that God is good and He will never betray or abandon us. He is a promise keeper and the only one who can be trusted.
No comments:
Post a Comment