How is it possible to keep your way pure? As with every other virtue, it is attainable only when living by the Word of God! Abiding in His Word helps discern God’s will, but that takes more than knowing the written Scriptures. It requires guidance from the Holy Spirit into all truth. An intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit will help you hear God’s voice and know His heart. And this at times also necessitates the wise counsel of godly people.
Christians commonly surrender fragments of their lives to God; but Y’shua said, “whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has…” We are called to complete unconditional surrender. It is neither easy nor natural; but it is required practice for every disciple. Freedom exists in moments of unconditional surrender: “Not my will, but Your will!” True freedom is to willingly submit that you have no options. When God’s way is the only way, then you are truly free!
Coming to this inevitable conclusion is a process. First, there is resistance. You will argue with God and defend your rights to question His ways and justify yourself. Then you will face divine confrontation; you will be chastised and challenged by God. If your way can survive the discipline, God will yield that you have the right to defend yourself and claim your own righteousness. But your way won’t succeed! You will ultimately accept that true freedom is found only in total submission to God. Every Christian travels this road to unconditional surrender—but few arrive at the destination.
There will be many things to concede along the way. And we must consider the depths of your ocean of concessions. Let’s begin with this word of prayer… “Deep inside me I am very sad. So, I will turn to You, my God, in a word of prayer. I hear Your voice like a waterfall; like the sound of thunder. The water pours over me like waves—so strong that they knock me to the ground. Each day, You show me that You love me and that You are faithful. Each night You give me a song to sing as I pray to the God who lives forever. I know You are my rock, but I often feel like I need to ask, ‘Why have You forgotten me? Why must I be so sad? How much longer must I continue to weep?’ I ask myself over and over again, ‘Why am I so sad and upset?’ But I ultimately submit as I am reminded that I must wait patiently for God’s help. I know I will praise my God once again because He always shows up to rescue me.”
Now for a moment, imagine the prophet Jonah being ordered to preach this truth to Job. “Jonah, go to Job. Show him what it means to surrender everything to Me. Warn him that he should not defend himself nor search for the cause of his suffering. Help him to understand what it means to trust Me and to submit completely, no matter how bad it gets.” Jonah would need to apply this truth to his own life if he were to preach it to Job, but history proves he would not be willing!
That was me when God asked me to surrender everything! Like Jonah, I wanted to run in the other direction; I wanted to jump into the ocean; I wanted to do anything but turn the boat around like Jonah should have done, or to surrender like Job ultimately learned. I wanted to leave the boat like Peter, the son of Jonah, did when he said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the waters.” Peter should have stayed in the boat and ordered the storm to be still, just as Y’shua taught him a short time earlier when, “Y’shua rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.”
There is a little bit, or a lot of, Jonah, Job, and Peter in all of us. We wrestle with God like Jacob, but oftentimes not for the blessing. We wrestle, instead, to hold onto our own thoughts, our own desires, our own will. God owes us something, doesn’t He? It’s all about me; I have rights; I can do it myself, my way, and for me; I deserve to feel this way; I deserve to be pitied. But the truth is this: we can run from these sins, yet we can’t hide from them. Everything will be exposed by God and is accountable to God. Everything hidden will be exposed by the light. As the psalmist echoed… “Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!”
All that gets exposed by the light must die. We must surrender even the smallest seed of self that remains. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.” You can hang on for dear life, hold onto that single fraying thread that says, “I am not willing to surrender this one thing.” But that will never produce ripe kingdom fruit. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for Y’shua’s sake and for the Good News will save it.”
Job concluded: “Thank You Yahweh! I know You have a plan for me and it’s a good plan; I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. I recognize You through all this suffering and I trust Your ways even when it feels horrible!” And Jonah could have shortened his journey, and avoided harming others, had he concluded… “I made a mistake; turn the boat around and head to Nineveh.” And Peter should have just stayed in the boat and rebuked the wind and the sea, and there would have been a great calm.
That great calm comes only when one reaches this conclusion: “It is not yet revealed what I will be; but I know that when He is revealed, I will be like Him. He who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, even as He is pure, and surrenders to this new reality, ‘No longer my will!’”
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