Life is intimidating at times. Sometimes it’s intimidating, sometimes it’s scary, and sometimes it’s downright terrifying. As we gaze into a future that is uncertain or frightening, our natural tendency is to pursue comfort through control. If we can only gain control over the situation, then we can ward off what frightens us and usher in what comforts us. If we can control the situation we can control the outcome and have confidence that all will be well. Or so we convince ourselves.
When we lie awake at night pondering our dire finances, that angry church member, a concerning medical diagnosis, our minds often race through the different scenarios looking for ways we can control them. When we finally awaken the next morning, we pray, speak, and behave in ways that attempt to master or dominate the situation. If only I can take the levers of power, if only people will cede to my will, if only God does things my way, then all will be well. If I can control the outcome, I can control the circumstances.
One of the lessons I have learned through life’s greatest difficulties is there is far more comfort in surrender than control. The reason is obvious: Surrender is within our power while control is not. We have the ability to surrender ourselves to God and his purposes, but we do not have the ability to control God and his purposes. God honors our words of commitment and consecration but he does not honor our attempts to wedge our way into what is his jurisdiction. Ceding control is a superior response to anxiety than attempting to seize it. Bowing the knee to God, pleading our case, and praying, “Nevertheless, not as I will but you will,” is the unexpected path to peace.
God honors our words of commitment and consecration but he does not honor our attempts to wedge our way into what is his jurisdiction.
Thus, when we face situations that are intimidating, scary, or terrifying, the right response is surrender. We need to surrender not just those things we’d be content to do without, but those things we love most and value highest: health, money, career, spouse, children. We need to surrender them to the Lord, to his wisdom, to his sovereignty. This is not an emotionally passive surrender as if we can ever be apathetic about what is important to us, but a fully active surrender in which we choose to trust that God’s wisdom is greater and his will is better than our own. It is the kind of surrender that acknowledges these things we value so highly only ever belonged to God and never actually belonged to us.
What we want in our times of fear and uncertainty is the assurance of a particular outcome—the outcome we long for. But what we need in our times of fear and uncertainty is trust in the character and sovereignty of God. What we need most is to surrender all to him and his kind, Fatherly heart, trusting that he will only ever do what is right and what is best—even, or especially, if it does not look that way to us.
