The Moment Obedience Found Me
My gut clenched, tied itself into knots, and lurched into my throat. My heart pounded erratically. Once again, I felt the pull to change. I tried desperately to ignore it. Surely what I was feeling was all in my head. The ideas and visions floating through my mind must be of my own making. I’m nothing special so how could this be God speaking to me?
There are not very many moments in my life that I can point at and say God was speaking to me (something that I am working on changing) but the times that He was responding to me were strong and intense. I could feel a literal tugging on my soul in the direction that God wanted me to go. Like a little child pulling on the hem of my shirt I felt God pulling on the edge of my soul.
The very first time that I can definitively say that God was calling to me was when I came back to Christ and was baptized in December of 2016. For almost a year before my surrender I tried to ignore and avoid the whisper I was hearing to come back home. At this point I was going back to church often and every message I heard seemed to boil down to that of the prodigal son that came back home to his father’s open arms. I felt connected to that image. I felt that I was that prodigal son and that God was waiting for me with open arms. All I had to do was be obedient to God and surrender to the call. The night that I was saved I remember hearing Him ask “Do you trust Me enough to let go?”. I cried and said yes to God that night.
My obedience wasn’t immediate. I hemmed and hawed and tried to find all the excuses I could to pass the feelings off something other than God calling to me. Now, looking back, I wonder what all I missed out on from God because of my hesitation. What blessings did I not receive because I did not immediately surrender to God’s will?
Let me ask you this. What is God asking of you right now? Why do you hesitate to surrender to Him? What blessings might you be missing because you’re not being obedient to His call?
What Obedience Really Means
There is a plethora of examples of obedience in the Bible. It’s amazing to read and see God speak to His people and His people immediately lay down what they are doing and redirect their paths to God’s will. One of the stories that stands out to me the most is that of Paul. Jesus came to him while he was still called Saul and told him that he was to be a servant of the Lord and that he was to spread the good news of the Gospel among the Gentiles.
Y’all, Paul had every excuse you could think of to say no. After all, he’d been persecuting Christians up until this point. Not just putting them in jail but seeing most executed. Saul was a man set against Christianity. Then Jesus appeared to him and immediately Paul changes to follow the will of God. He surrendered and was obedient without hesitation. And throughout the rest of his life if Paul heard God give him direction, he went. No hesitation. No excuses.
But it wasn’t because Paul felt afraid of God but because he knew that God loved him and that everything that God had him go through was ultimately for his good. Paul knew that God’s will for him would never lead him astray. That trust, that relationship with the Lord is what gives us the assurance that we are safe in our surrender. Please note that this doesn’t mean we won’t go through trials and tribulations, after all, Paul saw many a storm in his life. But what this does mean is that through it all we have God by our side and that He will use what we suffer as a means of growth for us.
Surrendering to God does not mean that we are waving a white flag saying we give up. God’s calling to us isn’t a battle to be won or lost. Surrendering in this case means that you are opening yourself up for all the good that God has for you to flow into you and through you so that you can fully receive the blessings He has to bestow on you.
Our obedience to God flows not from fear but from love. John 14:15 states “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (ESV). If we love the Lord, the way we proclaim to do so then we willingly do as we are commanded by God. We do so because we love and are loved. It’s this reciprocal love that we receive when we open our arms wide, fall to our knees, and say “yes, God”. That’s all we must do to receive it. Even if your yes is whispered, He will hear. Even if you just mentally say yes, He will know.
We don’t surrender in obedience just because we’re the “good girls” afraid to do anything wrong that might disappoint God. Rather we are the willing daughters of the King of Kings ready and willing to receive all that is rightfully ours through our surrender to God.
Jesus, the Ultimate Surrender
Jesus knew. Jesus knew. He knew what was coming for Him throughout His life. He walked through all the highs and lows of life knowing that He would end up on the cross. THAT is the ultimate surrender. Jesus followed God’s will for every aspect of His life. He went willingly after God’s commands but that doesn’t mean He wanted to. He struggled just like we do.
In Luke 22:42 we see Jesus back on the Mount of Olives seeking a moment alone with His father and He prays “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (ESV). Jesus doesn’t want His life to end, especially in such a horrific manner but He followed God’s commands for Him regardless. Jesus knew that by following God’s will that He would be blessed beyond measure. Jesus was set down as the right hand of God for His ultimate surrender.
Surrendering to the will of God doesn’t take away from our lives, even if it might seem like it initially, but rather our surrender to God leads to abundant blessings. It might take a while before we reap the blessings we sow in our surrender, but God will never fail to follow through. If you’re feeling convicted about something in your life that’s the Holy Spirit speaking to you on behalf of God. Don’t ignore it. Don’t pretend it doesn’t exist. Don’t shove it down and think you’ll get to it later. Instead examine it. See what it is that God is calling you to do.
The Weight and Wonder of Saying “Yes”
It’s in our nature to hesitate to say yes to something we really know nothing about or don’t feel ready to do. But what if we just obeyed? What if we just opened our hands palm up and surrendered ourselves to God almighty? We should listen to His call like in Isaiah 6:8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (ESV). Radical obedience is what we should be doing. It’s what God wants from us.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1 ESV).
We are to lay everything down, every dream, every plan, every timeline, everything that creates us as we are, at the feet of God and LET IT GO. We are to put to death our old selves and seek out our new lives in Christ. We can’t properly do that if we don’t surrender it all to God. We can’t be made new if we won’t let go of the world.
When It Feels Costly
We are to live with our hands open and lifted up to God. Every time I think about this, I think about this image that I see occasionally on Facebook of a little girl holding a teddy bear telling Jesus that she doesn’t want to give up her bear because she loves it but unbeknownst to her Jesus is holding an even larger teddy bear behind His back. Surrender brings more blessings than we can even begin to comprehend.
Obedience can be hard. It can be painful. It can be intimidating. But in the long run being disobedient will be more costly to you than giving up what God initially commands. As I sit here and type this, I think about what I’ve given up following God. I’ve lost people, I’ve given up bad habits, I’ve stepped out in faith even when I was fearful. Yes, it hurt. Yes, it was hard to let go of. But I was convicted. I was commanded. So here I sit, writing to you about how God changes lives, rather than writing what I was previously comfortable with. Here I sit with a closer relationship with God than I’ve ever had before. Which, frankly, is in itself the most rewarding thing you can have from surrender.
Closing
God will never fail us. When we say yes to God and step out boldly in faith He’s holding our hand the whole way. His covenant with us tells us that we are not to fear what’s coming because He has it all planned out for our good. I know it is hard to step out into the unknown. I struggle with not knowing what the plan is for me but that’s something that God already has figured out and I need to let go and let God handle the details. Surrendering is never easy, but it is so, so worth it.
So, tell me. What is God calling you to do? Will you say yes?
Breath & Bone 
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