THE CAUSEWAY OF SURRENDER

Have you ever allowed the real easement to your sense of self-control become one that passed through your conscious and heart? By that I mean being willing to surrender in faith to the Lord’s strength and will even in a situation you had the power to control?

It is easy when we are in trouble to seek the Lord for help. But what about the times when everything seems to be going okay? Those too are opportunities for trusting God, just ones that we are more prone to not gives as much thought too.

One can of course carry the concept of trust God to an abusive extreme if it is handled in the wrong way. I am speaking of the times when we use trust as an excuse to not do what we should do, but don’t want to.

I recall an incident when this one pastor was talking once about attending this meeting of this women’s group as a guest speaker. He was a great inspirational speaker and in very much demand.

On this occasion the group he was speaking to happen to be composed of a group of very affluent women. Ones who certainly could afford the best out of life and dressed and lived in accordance with that prosperity.

He mentioned how on this occasion one of the women got up and suggested they give special prayer that God would help the victims of this natural catastrophe mentioned in the news. Well to the pastor it seemed like given his audience that it was more prudent if they really wanted to help that they should simply get out their checkbooks. To him this was one situation where they had the means to help, but frankly preferred prayer to any actual personal involvement.

The thing is when the Pastor had his chance to speak he did emphasis how if you have the means to solve a problem that is obvious then God would expect you to have the wisdom to use that means. When he got done to his surprise and joy the ladies actually took up and offering for the needs of the people and arranged to send the funds to the appropriate relief fund.

Surrender can be a challenge and even more so if we are creatures of pride. But listening to God means listening even during the times when our heart would prefer to shout “let me do it my way.”

Being willing to accept that causeway of surrender in one’s life can be difficult if we have a compelling need for control. God can teach us to trust him in the process, but sometimes it is a lesson that we have trouble learning.

Perhaps we can stop in the process of our questions and look for those special paths that inspire and challenge with a need for surrender. God won’t force us to accept them, but he does often make them visible. Hopefully our eyes will be willing to see with our heart’s vision other than blurry by our own desires.