Wave a White Flag

July 10, 2014

Surrender.

Isn’t that the last thing you want to discuss in a series on warfare? Aren’t we supposed to keep on fighting until the last trumpet blast?

One of Dennis Jernigan’s recent CDs is Surrender. The title song says, “I’ll never give up to the enemy, but I surrender, Lord, to you.” That’s the kind of surrender I’m talking about.

God never told us to go out on to the battlefield without Him. Unlike some generals, He doesn’t want us to go out as cannon fodder, or like the pawns on a chessboard – expendable. None of His children/warriors are there just to be killed.

I’m sure you’ve known people who’ve been “taken out” because they got ahead of the Commander’s orders. Maybe you’ve done it yourself. I know I have. Fortunately, the results weren’t catastrophic, just embarrassing. I acted on what I knew He wanted me to do but neglected to wait on His timing. I thought I was being obedient, though I certainly didn’t feel quite ready for what was to come. As it turns out, I was being only partially obedient (which is disobedience) when I charged ahead in the task He assigned me but not at the time He ordained. Oops!

This is a hard lesson for many of us to learn. We are enthusiastic about our mission. We want to get on with it! But God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows all the behind-the-scenes things that need to happen before we are ready to yell, “Charge!”

Before we are able to safely go ahead, we have to surrender to our Commander. Only then are we supposed to proceed. And that’s not often an easy wait.

I honestly feel like I’ve surrendered everything, but then something else pops up its head, and God points it out to me so I can surrender it, too. It’s like a gigantic game of Whack-a-Mole! And it’s every bit as frustrating.

Have you noticed that waving the white flag once is hardly ever enough? How many times have you seen an attitude or habit that re-activates in your life, knowing full well you surrendered it weeks or months or even years ago? That’s a set-up for you to feel discouraged and judge yourself as being a failure, a bad Christian, even a bad person.

What do you do when that happens? Do you listen to the voices in your head that tell you how rotten you are? Those words may be coming from your own guilt and shame, but they just as likely to be from the enemy who is trying to hinder or even stop you from the mission he knows God has called you to. You are a threat to the kingdom of darkness! And the more you surrender to God, the more dangerous you become.