Control. An innate desire that we all have. We all strive to have the tightest grip we can on every aspect of our lives, hoping that control means having our lives together or the exact way that we want them to play out. We work countless hours trying to reach perfection, trying to climb the corporate and social latter, trying to have amazing friendships and a great relationship, trying to achieve all of the goals that the world says makes you the kind of person that everyone else wants to be. But that’s just it- we can try, but ultimately will we really succeed in that perfection? It’s a given that we’re going to do something to screw up that goal of perfection, because we’re humans and that's what we do. We’re basically olympic gold medalists at screwing stuff up. Once this happens, once we’ve messed up our “perfect” life, the colossal tower that we’ve built on sand crumbles to the ground, and the control that we had in our tightly clenched fists suddenly dissipates through our fingers.
The control that we’ve spent so long striving for is suddenly gone, and to satisfy our humanly desire for this control we end up trying to do everything we can to get it back. We start to believe the lies in our head as we try to satisfy our inner dragon that’s wanting more and more and more control. Our desire for control is then reflected in the actions we take in trying to get it back. This plays out differently for different people, but could look something like controlling or disordered eating, using alcohol, drugs or food as a coping mechanism, sleeping with person after person, becoming a workaholic, etc. The lies that infiltrate our minds convince us that if we do these things we can gain control of our life, and we can become good or successful or beautiful in the world's eyes. Suddenly we find ourselves in a dystopia of pseudo control, where what we think we are controlling is actually controlling us. It becomes a vicious cycle, trying to gain control and ultimately feeling more out of control, and its not long before the dragon has everything up in flames.
What if I told you that you could remove that pain from your life, but it would take going against your innate human desire? What if I said that there is actually freedom in surrender? The word surrender often has a negative connotation, being associated with weakness and giving up. However, surrender can actually be a representation of strength, as we let go of control and give it to our Creator, the only one who can truly handle control of our lives. The weight of control is not our burden to bear, we cannot carry it. When we surrender to the Lord we are saying “God, I know that the world says that I am an in charge of my life, and I can control how it goes. But I cannot bear the weight of that, so I give my desire for control to you.”
Surrendering is not an easy task by any means, but we can have peace knowing that our lives are in the hands of the One who created the universe. I would much rather have my life in the hands of the Creator than try to control it for myself; He does a much better job than I could ever do. We can be filled with joy and confidence, knowing that “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). How can we be sure that our lives are truly in good hands? In Matthew 6 Jesus addresses this, saying “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (verses 25-27). God is good, He has your best interest in mind (even though sometimes it may not seem like it), and you can have confidence that your life is in good hands.
I don’t want to make it seem like surrender is easy, I personally know that it’s a challenging task. Honestly I’m writing this more for myself than for anyone else. I was talking to a few friends the other day about how the word surrender has been sticking out to me lately, and how I seem to be in a season of learning to surrender. It is difficult at first, but man there is nothing more freeing than loosening those clenched fists into open palms and saying “Here God, take it, its yours.” A song that I’ve had on repeat recently is Have It All by Brian Johnson. My absolute favorite line is “Oh the joy I’ve found / surrendering my crowns / at the feet of the King / who surrendered everything.” For a long time I didn’t see how joy and surrender could go together in the same sentence, but oh how I have realized the truth held in that statement.
I encourage you to take the leap, and just try surrender. Its scary I know, but as you little by little give each part of your life to Him, you will become more and more free, until all of the weight is gone and you can freely soar, and joyfully press on in the adventure that He has for you.
