Week 4 | Surrender: From Anger to Stillness

In Abandonment to Divine Providence, Jean-Pierre de Caussade wrote, “What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the best and holiest thing that could happen to us.” This is quite a statement of trust in God’s shepherding of our lives. We are often so tied to outcomes and preferred futures that it is difficult for us to see His presence in the moment. 

In our human finiteness, we cannot see the fullness of where things are going and how our Shepherd will unfold the future. While we have personal agency and control over some things, having any kind of ultimate control is an illusion. Since this is the case, what does it mean that God is in control?

The reality that God is sovereign and “in control” is most often misunderstood and frequently used in “spiritual bypassing.” How God can be sovereign and still allow what we experience is a mystery. We get into trouble when “understanding” Him is our goal. Spiritual bypassing is the other end of the spectrum. In this, we might disengage emotionally and mentally and simply say, “I trust that God is in control” as a shallow response intended to protect us from angst. In reality, if we are paying attention, what we see and experience shouldcause some tension. This tension is not meant to be resolved, but to draw us to God’s heart and surrender to Him.

As we surrender to Him, we have hope.

When we hope that all that seems to be out of control is going somewhere and there is an unfolding plan, we can rest. Hope is a confident expectation that God is present, He is at work in us and around us, and He is leading us somewhere good. Hebrews 6:19 paints a beautiful picture that hope is an anchor for our souls. It grounds us and gives us the space in which to surrender. Notice the context of these words:

Hope is more than intellectual assent when we go into the inner place – the Holy of Holies – which is the presence of God. Our tension and angst is not resolved by understanding the concept of hope, but as we experience it in God’s presence. Indeed, He is our hope. As we connect with Him, our hope is rooted in Him.

Romans 8 expresses this truth profoundly in the context of creation and the hope of renewal:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:18–25

We groan, we hope, we wait. This is the rhythm of surrender. We do not try to resolve the groans. We do not despair. We do not react. We consent to God who knows us and loves us. We live hopefully in God’s gaze. Julian of Norwich wrote, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

Hope is experienced as we release our self-protective strategies. Are there ways of interacting with an out-of-control world that you are being invited to release? Are you trying to understand that which is mystery? Are you flippantly saying you trust God when you are simply trying to get rid of tension? Sit with these questions for a few minutes and notice what the Lord brings to your awareness. 

Prayer: Father, You are my hope. Today, as I feel the tension and angst of life, help me to enter the holy place of Your presence and embrace hope. Amen.