Surrender to God
Surrender.
When I hear that word, I think of war. I think of the end of something. I think of defeat.
I also think of Jesus on the cross. Even then, we talk about His giving up His life for us.
And while surrender may actually mean giving up, it is certainly not the end. Surrender to God and His path is the beginning of something beautiful.
Struggling through the pride of “knowing” how God should work taught me more than patience and humility. It taught me how to surrender. Not perfectly. Not every time. But it taught me what surrender can look like.
Surrender is not telling God I’ll follow His way and then taking my own path. It is not asking God to do things my way, or even the way He did something before. Surrender is a complete abandonment of me and my way.
The beautiful thing is that when I gave up “my way” and surrendered to God’s way, I discovered that He was already using the path I was on. He wasn’t necessarily trying to take me somewhere else. He wanted me to follow Him first.
Surrender to God is not about losing something. It is about removing ourselves. It is about following God even when we don’t understand.
Self-reliance
The world around us teaches us that self-reliance is the key to success. That people will let us down and hold us back.
And maybe sometimes they do. But maybe some of the people we think are “holding us back” have been placed in our lives for a purpose.
Christian surrender isn’t about abandoning responsibility or becoming incapable of standing on our own. It is about embracing the God who guides us. It is about allowing the people God has placed in our lives to lead us, correct us, and temper us.
When I was writing the Eremos workbook on Desire, Pride, and Power, Desire flowed easily. God seemed to give me nearly every word in a single hike. Pride needed more time. It needed more space. It needed me to get out of the way.
My pride was preventing God from leading. I wanted to understand how He should work, and I struggled when He chose to work differently.
It wasn’t until I recognized that pride and surrendered it to God that the section on Pride began to come together. And when it did, it wasn’t all at once. It wasn’t easy. It was heartbreaking and difficult.
Pride wasn’t just a topic. It was something I was living. Something I had to surrender. Something I was holding too tightly to see that all I needed to do was let go. God didn’t force me to see something. He waited. Patiently. And when I finally let go, He showed me the way.
Pride vs Surrender
Pride blinded me. Surrender allowed me to move forward.
Pride said I knew how it worked. Surrender allowed God to work.
Pride slowed me down. Surrender allowed God to lead me.
Pride stole my joy and drive. Surrender showed me where joy lies and restored my drive.
Pride doesn’t always show itself clearly. And surrender doesn’t always mean losing something.
Sometimes surrender simply means opening our hands and allowing God to lead.
Continue the Journey
This is the trailhead for Episode 5 : Pride and the Pack: What I Refuse to Put Down
The Trail Question is:
What are you refusing to surrender?
When you are ready come walk for a while:
First…
Listen to the podcast:
Then…
Spend a few quiet minutes asking God to reveal what has been shaping your desires.