[Certainty in the Uncertainty Series] During Empty Times: Fill Up with ChristSample

Control Must Become Surrender

As we listen to the news and hear what is happening around us, a deep sense of fear and worry is triggered. These feelings scare us because we seemed to have everything under control, and suddenly our whole world is shaking and falling apart.

To make matters worse, we must stay home, isolated. We long for connection, worship, and prayer with our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we cannot go to church. Even if going to church is not part of your life, when a crisis such as the one we are facing with the coronavirus pandemic arises, we may somehow feel the need to run to church. Isolation manifests the emptiness that comes from the lack of meaningful connection with God’s family.

Something similar happened to the author of Psalm 42. The Bible tells us that one of the sons of Korah, thousands of years ago, felt like most of us do today. He expressed his feelings through a beautiful song: “Yearning for God in the Midst of Distress.” I do not want to spoil it for you, so I will just say that he was depressed because he could not join the multitude he used to go with to the house of God. His soul is disquieted, and he asks himself, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” (Psalm 42:5, ESV).

Can you relate to him? Are you asking yourself these same questions these days? Why do I feel like this? Why do I feel so down, so afraid? What is behind your fear and worry? We are desperate because those things we cannot control are revealing precisely that we are not in control, we never were. Control must become surrender.

The psalmist acknowledges his feelings; he does not repress them. He courageously addresses them and decides to put his hope in God. He surrenders it all to God. He does not allow his circumstances to steal his peace and joy. 

Pray

Lord, today, I feel cast down, and this sensation is stealing my joy. I surrender my life and circumstances under Your control. I have decided to put my hope in You and to rejoice in You always. Fill me up with Your loving presence