Surrender

I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame. Psalm 44:6-7

Sometimes the fight is just overwhelming. It might be a disgruntled coworker whose undaunted negativity eventfully, regardless of my efforts to counteract it, brings everyone down. Then there’s the family situation which is just out of my grasp to bring to a joyful conclusion. After a time all my weapons of words and actions are ineffective and I just want to lay down arms and admit defeat. The problem is that sometimes I wait too long to surrender.

Sometimes I act like King Zedekiah when he refused listen to the Prophet Jeremiah who passed along instructions from God. Zedekiah was to surrender himself to the king of Babylon, but instead his fear and a lack of trust in God kept him from taking the right path and things didn’t turn out so well [Jeremiah 38:21.] That path of surrendering everything to the will of the Lord all too often runs counter to my “I got this, I can handle it” attitude.

I’m learning that the sooner I yield my will, my fears, and my anxiety to God the sooner situations seem to resolve themselves. I still have difficulty accepting that because things don’t usually turn out like I think they should, that it may be what God wants. One of the most difficult things for me to do is give up, and I’m still not likely to lay down my sword at the first flash of battle, but I am trying to always rely on Gods promise that as long as I am acting honorably, not out of self interest, he’s got my back. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. 1 Peter 3:12

Bless you brothers, live this day in peace, in His Word.