The Struggle of Surrender
After my recent bouts of struggling with trust, I felt like I could write a whole sermon on surrender. I try to illustrate this below in a pictorial description that came to mind
I imagined a little child who is scared to hand over her biscuit to her mum for fear that she won’t have it back. And the mum says “give it to me, let me keep it safely for you while you sleep” but the child says no. And so this child goes to bed with this biscuit clutched tightly in her hands, which then crumbles while she sleeps. What she had safeguarded so much was gone because there is a limit to how much she could protect it—as long as it was in her hands. Her mum could have kept it in the fridge for her till she woke up. And though it wouldn’t be in her hands, it will be safer.
💡 Our safety doesn’t come from what we hold on tightly to but what we hand over to God to keep safe for us.
Reflecting on this imagery, I thought “why did the child feel scared to hand the biscuit to her mum?” Then, I realized she didn’t trust her mum enough to know she will get the biscuit back. On further reflection I thought, even if the mum had decided not to give this child the biscuit back, we know it will have been replaced with a more nutritious meal.
Then I figured out the problem; the child wanted the biscuit and wasn’t ready to trust any alternative because the biscuit was what was going to give her the sweetness(pleasure) she sought. At the same time, the mum could have decided a stick of biscuit won’t hurt as a treat today. Whichever way the outcome turned out, it could have still been in the best interest of the child.
💡 Learning to trust God helps us know that regardless of the outcome we expected, God’s plan is Always Still the best.
From this imagery that played in my mind, I learned in a new way how important trust was. I also came to see that learning to trust God comes with a revelation of his love and knowing no matter what happens He has got my back.
