I Surrender!

When Jacob lay down to sleep on the night before he was to meet his estranged brother, he had a visitor who engaged him in a wrestling match for an entire night. It's not uncommon to a have sleepless night because of anxiety or worry about the next day’s events. Jacob’s past had caught up with him, which put his future in jeopardy.

          In this wrestling match God made an all-out effort to penetrate the defenses Jacob erected. He wanted to do as he pleased and to use all his schemes and tools of deception in order to wring out of life everything it was ultimately worth. Yet God intended for Jacob to live by a different ethic, a code of conduct that reflected God's grace and deliverance.

          Surrendering to God's leadership isn't easy. We're afraid to let go and turn everything over to God. It may take a crisis where everything is in danger of being lost and we're powerless to stop it. It's at this juncture where we can exercise hope that the God of all hope will intervene on our behalf to save and change us.

Fightings Within, Fears Without: Come to God - Part 2

Internal struggles are often related to unexpressed resentment and perhaps to striving to live up to the expectations of others. A young woman in her last year of medical school abruptly resigned, much to her parents’ dismay. For her, each day of medical school had been a battle. The war existed between what her parents expected of her and the realization that medical school was not her passion.

Even gifted and talented people get stuck in unlikable careers, often out of necessity. Job 3:26 clearly identified the young woman’s position: “I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, only turmoil.” The surgery rotation convinced her beyond a shadow of doubt that being a physician was not in her future.

While she had to face her parents, friends and extended family, the young woman believed God had a place for her where she could be at peace within herself. Her choice was a step of faith and trust after prayer and counsel with her professors. Internal peace comes by making peace with God and being in his will, which he desires for each of us.