Someone once told me to not sing a worship song unless you truly mean it. As someone who loves the depth and sincerity of words,
I took this to heart.
Typically I sing with joy and genuine praise for God. It’s easy to worship him for his love, his faithfulness, his power and justice. I love to sing about what he’s done for me through Jesus by saving me and sanctifying me for himself.
But there is one song that I’ve struggled with.
A song that at times I haven’t been able to sing.
The song is “I surrender all.”
I like control. I like organization. I like having my plans laid out 3-5 years in advance. When things don’t go the way I want or expect, my brain doesn’t know how to handle it. I’m not very good at spontaneity. I resist change. So to be honest, I don’t like the word surrender.
It sounds like giving up.
When I think of surrender, I see two men struggling in a fight, and the weaker man realizing he can’t hold back his opponent anymore. He holds his hands up, throws down his weapons and says,
“I’m done fighting.”
What’s funny is I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done that with God. Who am I to think I could win against the King of Kings? The God whom the wind and waves obey, whose voice tells the lightning where to strike and the sun when to rise? And yet I’ve fought him.
Maybe you understand. You fight against where God’s leading you. You resist the change, or the trials, or the difficulty and discomfort that is His will for you. You fight against him by choosing sin and death instead of purity and life.
I’ve been there too.
So have men like Pharaoh in the book of Genesis.
And it cost him everything.
As Isaiah 45:9 says, “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker– An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?
Let me just say it point blank. You can’t fight God. It doesn’t work. No one can stand in His way. Not one can defy his will.
But here’s the amazing thing, that’s exactly how God planned it. That’s exactly what he wants us to understand.
Not so we’ll be defeated, but humbled. Not so we’ll die, but to reach the point of death, so we see how desperately we need him, and how he alone can save us.
Cause when our hands are lifted in surrender and our weapons are at his feet, when our lungs are burning and there’s sweat and tears running down our face, mingling with the dirt we’re lying in, Jesus leans down and says “This is right where I want you. A broken and contrite heart I will in no way turn away.”
He wants us desperate. He wants us weak. He wants us to see our inadequacy. Because those are the things that make us surrender.
But here’s the thing. Jesus isn’t like other commanding officers. He won’t slay you on the spot when he catches you in a weak position, and he won’t make you sign a peace treaty outlaying a bunch of rules and regulations that you must follow in order to be on his good side. When we surrender to him, he kneels down to us. And he says, “I forgive you. Now come fight with me, not against me.”
My God gives grace to the humble.
He makes us his children instead of his enemies.
Truly, “Once we were alienated from God and were enemies in our minds because of our evil behavior. But now he has reconciled us by Christ’s physical body through death to present us holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” -Colossians 1:21-22
God lifts our slumped shoulders, he raises our defeated hands and he clothes us with an armor that protects us against our true enemy. A breastplate of righteousness, a belt of truth, shoes of peace, a helmet of salvation. And as he puts the sword of the spirit in one hand and the shield of faith in the other, he looks at us in love.
“Come, fight the good fight.” He says,
“Every other fight only leads to defeat.”
Yes surrendering is giving up, but its also giving in to true purpose, full confidence, abundant life, and restored relationship with God.
“For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great. You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way. ” -Psalm 18:31-36
If the song, “I surrender all” started playing today, would you be able to sing it? I hope I could.
Because only in losing my life do I find it. And only by fighting with God, and not against him, will I ever live in victory.
For if fighting against God is the most stupid decision you could ever make, then fighting with him has got to be one of the best.
After all, he’s the one who said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
I don’t know about you, but I want to fight for that guy.
“Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge.” -Psalm 144:1-2
