Daily Nuggets of Grace Part 6 Calm!Chikamu

The Happy Surrender

Some years ago, my husband and I had the meal of a lifetime at an African restaurant in Nairobi. As we entered the restaurant, the sights and tantalizing smells of food cooking over coals in an open barbeque pit greeted us. Once we were seated, the entrees began to be served with various savory sauces. One culinary delight after another continued until someone raised the white flag. It was the happy surrender of fullness and contentment.

In 1 Peter 5:1-10, Peter calls for a more complex surrender. This surrender is needed as we live with imperfect people in an imperfect world. It’s needed as we do life in the imperfect organism called the church. It’s needed because suffering is involved in our journey.

The suffering we face in this world often causes anxiety. We don’t know what will happen next. We don’t know what the outcome will be. We don’t know what others will say and do.
These unknowns often work together to make us anxious.

Surrendering to God delivers us from this anxiety.

Serving God does not exclude us from this suffering. Whether we are shepherds of God’s flock or have accepted the all-encompassing command to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another, we can face hardship and feel anxiety. Peter tells us that suffering is not something that we alone experience; it’s experienced by believers worldwide as we live out our calling as lights in a world that loves darkness.

But with the command to humble ourselves comes the promises. They are ours to feast on! Faithful shepherds who suffer will receive an unfading crown of glory. When we humble ourselves, God gives grace. He will lift us up at just the right time.

Unresolved anxiety can lead us into dark, hopeless places, opening the door for the enemy to devour. We can cast the stress that comes from suffering on Jesus because of His character; He cares for us.

There is a continual feast of God’s promises for the humble believer who feels anxious.

Suffering lasts for a little while in God's eternal plan! But when we surrender ourselves to God's purposes, true and lasting satisfaction comes from God's amazing grace as He perfects, confirms, and strengthens us.

Much more satisfying than a meal at a great restaurant, lasting satisfaction comes from receiving God’s grace in suffering.

Reflect and Respond

As you live in the church and the world, where is God calling you to surrender to Him in suffering?

Pray

Lord Jesus, it is only by your grace that I can choose to submit to You in suffering. Your grace is here with me now. By faith, I choose the happy surrender of walking in Your grace!