Compartmentalization is not surrender. Shutting down pieces of your heart is not trust.
It’s easier that way. It’s easier to pretend you don’t really care, to act as if that thing can’t get to you or that person doesn’t turn your heart inside out. It’s easier to box up hope and wrap it in cynicism than to feel the hurt of unfulfilled dreams. The easy road is far more travelled, but God calls us to a different path.
On my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:5-10 ESV
BibleGateway.com
God calls us to surrender.
Three times the Apostle Paul pleaded with God. For three seasons of time he begged God to remove something that gave him pain and frustration. What was God’s response? No. his explanation: My strength is made perfect in your weakness.
We often sing songs like, “All to Jesus I Surrender” and “White Flag” as part of our worship, but surrender itself is not a Bible word. I did a search for the word “surrender” in Scripture and found it only a few times, all related to Israel’s military endeavors. Merriam-Webster defines surrender as:
Surrender
: to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting, etc., because you know that you will not win or succeed
: to give the control or use of (something) to someone else
: to allow something (such as a habit or desire) to influence or control you“Surrender.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 21 June 2016.
Surrender sounds like giving up. It smells of defeat. I fought this war and lost so I surrender. But God has a different view. God sees strength in our weakness and possibility in our pain. When we surrender, when we turn to God instead of continuing to run from Him, God draws near to us, pouring healing over our open wounds.
God sees strength in our weakness and possibility in our pain. Click To TweetSurrender > Self Defense
Self defense is taking those dreams of love, hope for a different future, or desire for a different outcome and hides them away. Self defense says if I don’t admit how important this is to me, then not having it won’t hurt so badly. Unfortunately, self defense keeps us from a full and healthy life. It keeps our wounds hidden from the Healer. Like a dark secret, self defense allows our wounds to fester and contaminate our lives.
God calls us to bring our desires to Him in prayer. He welcomes our broken hearts with open arms. Sometimes He chooses to grant our desires and sometimes He says no. But all of the time He gives us strength to face tomorrow.
Surrender isn’t the coward’s way out. It seems spiritual to muscle through, to keep fighting for what you believe in—to plan for all the variables and overcome all the odds. And sometimes it is. There is a time to fight the good fight of faith, and there is a time when it takes every ounce of faith you have to let go.
Surrender is the Christian’s source of strength.
Surrender is for the one unwilling to walk the Christian life alone. Surrender says, “this thing I crave, this person I long for, this outcome I desire—it’s yours, God. Nothing is more important to me than walking hand in hand with You.”
Self defense keeps God at arms length. Surrender invites Him into our pain, our hopes, and our dreams. Surrender holds up messy, raw, fragile hearts and calls the Great Physician to make them pure, whole, and stronger than ever before.
Self defense keeps God at arms length. Surrender invites Him into our pain. Click To TweetCome out from your hiding place. Open the compartments of your heart. Give your broken parts to Jesus. Let Him make all things new in His time. (Revelation 21:5)