Complete Surrender

Gabrielle Hamilton, Australia

Today the focus will be on complete surrender before God, especially in the tough times. This is something that I've been so moved to work on this year as it's something I greatly struggled with last year. 2021 came with its own unique adventure, most of which were out of my control such as lockdown, cancelled events and online university. I realised throughout these challenges, my natural and sinful inclination of self reliance kicks in and I can so easily turn to things that I can tangibly trust in such as myself, friends, family, etc. However, we're commanded in Proverbs 3: 5 - 6 not to trust in these things but rather in God, and he emphasises that I do this with ALL OF MY heart. and to SUBMIT. This is such a high calling and the character who I think exemplifies this calling is Joseph (the dreamer).

Genesis 37, 39, 41: 9-12, 28-40

devotional

When reading through Joseph's journey, I can't help but to admire his character, because if I was in his situation, I would have found it incredibly difficult to trust God throughout it all. Life doesn't guarantee straight paths to God's ultimate plan, and the challenge is to maintain faith (defined in Hebrews 11:1) and Joseph's journey was no exception. Absolutely EVERYTHING went wrong for him; he was sold into slavery by his own brothers, literally ran away from temptation, became wrongly imprisoned and helped a fellow prisoner who couldn't even remember him. This was such an unfair storm in life to be going through! But how Joseph responded was with complete and unwavering faith, surrender and confidence in God's promises which is easier said than done.

Covid found unique ways to change my life drastically and mess up the initial plan I had for the past two years for the ministry, work, university etc. It became so easy to do what I saw fit or ask God to make the path towards the end clear so that having faith could be easier. But this is not the surrender that we're called to have; there were so many times that Joseph could've simply decided to give up, as no end seemed to be in sight, yet he had a faith that allowed him to let go of his own understanding and views. Joseph just let God prevail and Genesis 39:2-3 says God was with Joseph. God sometimes allows us to be placed into hard or difficult situations that stretch us in order to be refined to trust in Him whilst he's right there. When we look at the big picture, God worked in the background in Joseph's story but the promise only came to fruition after 13 long years, 2 of which were in prison (Genesis 41:1). How would you have responded if you had waited this long for a promise?

I can't help but consider how anticlimactic Joseph's story would have been if he had reacted the way I do when God puts me in long tough situations – he would not have been in the position of power that allowed him to help his family move to Egypt and be a part of God’s great plan for His people. I find that my inability to let God work is because I can be so consumed with my feelings, thoughts, and uncertainty. Rather than focusing on God's greater picture like Joseph did, which lead to comfort and true joy, I rely on myself and become caught in crippling doubt and worry, because I know that I can't do anything to fix the situation. However, I've found that having an eternal perspective, constantly praying to let go of uncertainty and surrender and having God's promises on my heart through memorising scriptures has been so helpful to emulate Joseph's trust of God especially when no end is in sight. Life promises that we WILL go through crazy twists and new storms with an uncertain duration , days or years but the challenge of our faith is how we respond throughout. Whether we choose the path of self reliance or emulate Joseph's absolute trust in God. The path of trust is hard but we can see the true rewards through Joseph's life.

Memory scriptures that have helped me:

Hebrews 11:1 and 2 Corinthians 5:7

reflection questions

• What would your natural reaction have been in Joseph's circumstance?

• When faced with situations where fear or self reliance can so easily prevail, where do you turn?

• In what area of your life is God calling you to surrender to His greater plan?

• What are the ways that you can equip yourselves for the storms that will come in life?