Surrender in the Shallows

I made the mistake of telling my then-four-year-old daughter that we were going to the beach. The mistake wasn’t that we were going to the beach; it was that I told her two weeks before our trip. You can only imagine the daily questions I got leading up to this sandy vacation.

Then the day came, and after a more than thirteen-hour drive, we made it to the beach. My daughter had been waiting for this moment for weeks. With her little legs tracking through the sand, she ran to the water. In one second, she came to a halt, and I could see her body go rigid. I saw that innocent excitement disappear from my daughter in the blink of an eye as fear of the ocean’s grandness overwhelmed her.

In Psalm 107, God’s wayward people were afraid, but they cried out to the Lord. Then God stilled the storms to a whisper. The Father protected those who surrendered to him. He removed the trials and replaced them with gladness. When fear takes over, we tend to hang to our flesh. Our flesh doesn’t encourage us to surrender the fear. But we are safer with God in the storm rather than remaining isolated in the shallows.

Eventually, my daughter surrendered her fear of the ocean to her earthly father as she grabbed his hand. She was able to show trust in him. She was able to abandon her fear and face it. If she hadn’t done that, she would never have had the fun she did that day. Surrendering is a strength, not a weakness. Cowering in the shallows only keeps us from deliverance.

What keeps you in the shallows? Reflect on what keeps you from deliverance and surrender it to God.

Dear Lord, I surrender myself to you. Deliver me from my fears. Amen.