Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7 (GWT)
It is a common misconception that Christianity is about abandoning the cares of daily life in the world and cruising with Christ, a bit like the hippies of the last century were said to “drop (of society) out and tune in (to their feelings)”. The Hippies did tend, as a group, to drop out straight into the drug culture, there was a sizable minority that didn’t. The Jesus Revolution had its origins in Haight-Ashbury the epicentre of hippy activity in California, it was one of a number of groups who were formed as a reaction to the excesses of the drug culture within the hippy culture.
I have been inspired, at least in part, by the verse above and a piece written by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in America. He included this section where he analysed what Christianity is about as:
“Surrendering your life means:
Following God's lead without knowing where he's sending you;
Waiting for God's timing without knowing when it will come;
Expecting a miracle without knowing how God will provide;
Trusting God's purpose without understanding the circumstances.”
As I am sure most will recognize there are more questions there than answers. It is a Biblical pattern for God to lead His people to places that they don’t know the destination. Trust is foundational when you are told to leave you friends and family, as was Abram, and to go to an unknown place.
It takes absolute trust to believe he would be the father of nations when he was ninety odd and still childless and then when told to take his only son with him and sacrifice that son on a mountain when the child was now more of a man than a child: this is what would be called expecting a miracle from God’s provision. Abraham, new name now, had to traverse to that site, his son and he, and his legs were definitely getting old now but yet somehow this son of a miracle was going to just accept his fate as an offering to God, and what was to become of the “Father of Nations” attribute Abraham had been promised if God did not provide a solution
For, all of us who have spent some time following the Master now, the life of obedience is not about abandoning the natural cares of today. In fact most would claim that the difference is not about letting go of our responsibilities, but finding them added to. The difference is in the perspective that we regard these responsibilities, the “world” knows this as the difference between wants and needs, we as believers see the question as God’s will first, including our needs, our wants have a lower order of significance.
How many of us have been “benched” or “parked” with no apparent reason? It can be frustrating can’t it. Well Followers of Jesus are only different in that when we are parked it is for a reason, so the Bible tells us. We may not be aware of the reason for being parked or the length that we are going to have to wait but we have His promise that all things work out for our good. That includes being taken out of the game when we feel that we are doing OK. The frustration is still there but it is tempered by the promise that God is in control and working it out for our benefit, and His Glory.
This is an important concept, a Christian does life for the glory of God, there is no bonus with chasing self aggrandisement, and hence there is little benefit in chasing our tails to achieve a point of success that reflects glory on ourselves.
Jesus just before His arrest is recorded in John’s Gospel as saying "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33
This is why we can do the things of faith that place us, as believers, in a position of remoteness from the pressures of daily life. We are not remote from daily life, in fact sometimes the needs of those around us press in as part of our caring about our neighbours but we are remote from the pressures of daily life for our Lord has gone before and like the beams in a cave He prevents life from caving in on us
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