Serenity of Surrender

This blog is designed to give people an inner look at a devotional life. Taking time each day to spend time with the Lord. The hope is if you travel on this journey with Rev. Jacob Shaw, you may be more inclined to spend time with the Lord as well. I encourage the use of a devotional, a scripture reading and prayer, then finally a song, hymn or selection of poetry to tie it all together. 

Today's devotional is taken from: Vujicic, Nick. Limitless Devotions for a Ridiculously Good Life. Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbrook Press, 2013. pp 15-17. 

Opening Thought: Surrender is not a word I ever grew up associating God with. Whenever I heard other Christian use that language I would tense up, thinking a loving God would not want you to surrender. But what I thought then was a misguided objection. As I have come to grow deeper into my faith, I realize I was blanketing the word “surrender” with the concepts of war. As if God was a hostile party trying to take me over, which of course made no sense in relation to God, thus why I had disregarded the word “surrender” in my faith life. More and more I find myself navigating towards the word, so when it popped up in today’s devotional, I knew today’s time with God was going to cultivate something great.

The devotional begins with: 
Philippians 4:6-7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Second Thought: I think my instinct is to never surrender. When I was a child, I was extremely timid, and as I grew, I didn’t like that about myself. Because of my anxiety, I would often let other take the lead, or for go my desires because I did not want to cause disruption. So, I naturally found myself surrendering to the mundane circumstances of life. Surrendering to God is much different then the admitting defeat because you feel overwhelmed or anxious. Let me put it this way, imagine your suddenly dropped into a river. The river is running a course, this is God’s will, apart of us knows to just follow the river, but other parts of us fill our mind with fear and anxiety and then we fight the river. Now sometimes, yes, we get defeated, and we get so tired from fighting the current of the river that we just ultimately wash down stream. But sadly, it doesn’t always work that may, many people try to get out of the river and end up wandering in the desert. Surrender to me is about not only realizing its good to be in the river, but also realizing the river is made for you and you for it. It is a symbiotic relationship and when you embrace that, not only do you float, but you also get to see and enjoy all the sights along the river. Surrendering to God is about embracing God, it isn’t a defeat but rather a victory. It means you also inherently stop fighting the current, your enjoy it, you open yourself up to it, you find new meaning in the rapid portion, the calm portion, the deeper waters and the more shallow moments.  

Continual Work: "You can surrender yourself to Him…” It really in my opinion, it is an invitation, to let go of how you think life should go, what you think life should be, and just diving into the deep end of God’s pathway for you. It doesn’t mean it will be easy or simple, but I find it makes it all that much smoother, as I feel the devotional’s author would agree.   

What Rev. Jacob is Working On: I want to take some time to watch the birds in the air. I know the fish of the sea would be a better connection to the metaphor above, however, to see birds I only have to look out my window, fish is a scuba dive lesson and a trip to the tropics. Regardless, I want to see how the birds utilize the wind which carries them, I don’t think I have ever seen birds fighting the winds, maybe it does happen, but most of the time I see them riding the winds, letting it inspire their movements. That is how I want to be with God, letting His will inspire and unite with my own.   

Scripture time: Philippians 4

Sometimes when I read scripture, I don’t get the flare of inspiration I expect or hope for, which is okay usually those days it is just tiredness and so I grab a coffee, sit back down and BOOM, there it is. Today, I am very tired, but instead of the coffee delay, one sentence just keep ringing in my mind. “Yet it was good for you to share in my troubles.” Took me a bit to sort it out, but I got there.

In Philippians we see Paul writing to the Christian congregation established in Philippi – Paul was likely in custody in Rome, so it was tough times for sure. The thing I love about the sentence is the comradery we see in the kinship of Christs church. Paul knows with Christ he is completely satisfied, but he gets to rejoice in the cherry on the cake of his community sharing in his struggles. I don’t think I always reach out the best I can, to make that connection and share in burdens. Not because I don’t want to, I often really do, but sometimes I feel like I don’t have the right stuff. I like that Paul share with us a look in at a beautiful truth. If we are getting the right stuff from God, then what we share with each other is just the bonus step, and therefore, why be anxious to dive right in to caring, hospitality, comfort and charity. Celebrate the beauty of God’s love by exercising it in your heart and actions. Even if it is the mere exchange of words.   

Prayer Time: Eternal and Unending, so challenging is your being God. Love me this day with your utmost connective force, reminding my heart that I am with you and you are with me and all my brothers and sisters upon this earth. Maybe if I can remember this more and more I will always be more inclined toward a love for my neighbor, friend and enemy alike. Amen.

Closing Words: I hope you enjoyed and were lifted by this devotional time; it is truly important to take time for God each day. By doing so, you welcome God into your life, and in turn you will be able to better see the world through the eyes of God, rather than God through the world's eyes.

Artistic Close: If I had to define simply what 'Surrendering to God' would be, I would say it is, Falling in Love with Hope.  So, I leave you with a quote from C.S. Lewis:

“Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.”