The Dark Cave: Wisdom for Dark Nights of the SoulSample

The Victory of Surrender

The book of Job is most likely one of the oldest books of the Bible. Which I think is quite telling, because Job is the story of man’s relationship to God’s mysterious and sometimes painful ways. Humans have been confounded by God’s ways since the beginning of time. Job goes through a truly Dark Cave where he loses pretty much everything he has worked for up to that point. His family. His wealth. His health.

His friends come to console him. They offer all sorts of explanations for his dark night and God's silence. Some say it’s hidden sin. Others say it’s fate. Some say it’s random. Job is bewildered. He was serving God to the best of his ability and then all these horrible things happened to him. His faith seems to be shaken. He starts asking what he did wrong.

About halfway through the book, God shows up and starts talking (Job 38:1-18). But in chapter after chapter of God’s response, He doesn’t offer any real answers to Job’s questions. He just starts firing off questions—like a teacher does with a test. It’s all one-sided. God doesn’t seem bothered by Job’s questions, but He does rebuke Job’s friends for their simplistic answers to the situation.

In the end, Job humbly acknowledges, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.”(Job 42:1-6)

Job’s moment of clarity and comfort comes when he acknowledges his limited understanding of the bigger picture. In the words of G. K. Chesterton, “Indeed the book of Job avowedly only answers mystery with mystery. Job is comforted with riddles; but he is comforted.” Oftentimes, peace comes not with clarity but with embracing mystery.

This seems to be the pattern of most divine revelation. It comes when we feel least certain. Revelation comes when we find contentment with mystery. And that’s the victory in the cave. Emerging victorious from your decisive battle in the cave will often feel more like an act of surrender than of victory. That’s the strange paradox of the Dark Cave. Winning victory over the enemy in the cave rarely looks like we thought it should. In fact, more often than not, it feels like a loss. Loss of capacity. Loss of autonomy. Loss of freedom. Loss of security. Loss of certainty. Even loss of life. That’s the paradox.

Ultimate victory in the walk of faith looks a lot like surrender.

Every time we surrender more of our life to God’s plan and purpose, we win greater victory. Jesus surrendered to His Father’s will and won the victory. The same is true for us. Our surrender to His plan is where we find meaning and purpose. When we feel defeated by the mystery of God and surrender to that mystery, letting Him lead us wherever he sees fit, there’s peace. This is also when we actually start to have something to offer the world.

The Beatitudes indicate that blessing is reserved for those who are in a position of loss and surrender. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who are hungry and thirsty. (Matthew 5:1-11) Surrendering to God’s will and ways is the ultimate victory.

You aren’t surrendering your personality or who you are at your core. God made you exactly who you are for His purposes. He likes how He made you. He just wants you to become all He made you to be. The goal of surrender is transformation into His glorious image. Surrender is allowing Him to use all of you—your personality, your talents, and even your pain—for His purposes.

I tend to believe it’s not even a matter of giving up your will, as much as it is submitting your will to God’s will. (Completely letting go of your own will would make you no longer human—you’d be a mind-numb robot.) We don’t give up our will. We willingly surrender it to God’s will. Like Jesus, we say, “Not my will, but Your will be done.” In that act of submission, we find the victory.

The victory in the dark cave may feel like death of part of who we are. But in that death, we actually find total freedom and victory. Death, then resurrection. That’s the pattern. Before we can be resurrected to something new and glorious, first we must die to our will and ways and let Christ’s life live through us. We must die to our obsession with understanding and trust God is working all things for His glory and our good.

Today, I want to encourage you to trust God with your Dark Cave season. Surrender your need to control the outcomes. Surrender your need for clarity. Take a deep breath and surrender to Him saying, “Not my will, but your will be done.”