Sometimes the greatest strength is in surrender

 

“Tomorrow’s freedom is
today’s surrender,
we come before You lay
our burdens down.
We look to You as our
hearts remember,
You are the only God.
You are our only God.”
Stu Garrard and David
Leonard.

This is the chorus from a worship song that has been stuck in my mind because the words are powerfully true and moving.

First, there is very little of real value for our spirits that happens in a moment. What happens tomorrow almost always springs from faithful practice today. In fact, there may be little pay out today. It may well be that we cannot imagine tomorrow’s blessing and its life sustaining power, but we live faithfully today with obedience and hope in a God whose goodness is beyond both our imaginings and our means to purchase with any amount of duty.

Second, in the economy of the Kingdom of Heaven, surrender yields freedom, not bondage. This world knows surrender only in terms of hopelessness. The only relationship that Hell understands is bondage; it knows nothing of love. Since the kingdom of this age is a franchise of hell, we think of freedom only in terms of being unfettered from others… free from love.

Freedom makes sense from Heaven’s perspective only if it is chained by love’s joy. Surrender yields freedom because when we give ourselves in love for God, He restores us to ourselves and unites us to the family of joy that is the Trinity along with all that is the Body of Christ.

We recently bought our latest dog from a rescue shelter. Before he was rescued he was a stray. His only purpose was to scrounge food wherever he could, a task that was never ending and rarely satisfying. He had no warm place to shelter except what he could steal like a fugitive from garages or shelters whose welcome was a hostile word or gesture that pushed him away. He had no name. He had no place.

Before we took him home we did two things: we put a collar on him and we gave him a name. That collar is the incarnation of surrender that is the foundation of that dog’s place in our family. It is the restraint that subjects him to love; a love that lays claim on his life and sets boundaries that he must come to grips with. It also carries a name, literally. He is not a piece of property or a thing.

We have loved and suffered with tears through the death of too many good dogs to misunderstand the place that love gives them in our family. He is loved. Our walks in the woods and by the Big Lake are much richer having him lead the way. If we are warm and fed, he can be sure that he will be as well. When we have to be away for the day, he welcomes us home with heartfelt joy. We are all glad to be together again and be restored with hugs and ear scratching, belly rubbing, licks and kisses.

Janis Joplin sang, “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” You could say that our dog was free before he came to us; without restraint or obligation. But he was also unloved by any but his Creator. In our “pack,” love’s requirements are few and wrapped in mercy, but they are immutable and non-negotiable. They are rules we need if we are to live well and thrive together. The returns are always surprising, sustaining and loving.

We gave him the name Ezekiel… which means, “God gives strength” in Hebrew. Sometimes the greatest strength is in surrender. Freedom from hunger of mind, body, and spirit does not spring up from deep inside us. That’s where the hunger and loneliness come from. Love’s reward is a surrender that sustains every life in its circle with great joy!

Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month’s contributor is Pastor Dave Harvey, who has served as pastor of Grand Marais Evangelical Free Church since February of 2008.