Everyone can benefit from a vacation. Counting the days to ‘V’ day is like checking off little square carrots on the calendar. The thought of silencing the alarm clock for more than a weekend is enough to kick in the after-burners for everything that must be done before hanging up our “gone fishing” sign.
But where does a weary heart go? After all, you can’t just unplug this electrical appliance and take your body off to the Bahamas without it.
Dr. God has the standard prescription that has stood the test of time. He calls it ‘surrender.’
My husband, the biblical counselor, was working one day with a client who had suffered great difficulty over a period of time. As they were in prayer regarding this specific weariness of the soul, the Lord showed this individual a picture of them in a sword fight dueling with the enemy. As they jousted, they grew extremely tired, all the time crying out to the Lord for help. A quick glance around revealed Jesus was there…sitting on a rock watching the battle that was taking place.
When this one asked Him why he was sitting there and not coming to their rescue, he replied, “I did not ask you to fight this battle.”
It’s not easy to refute Truth when you hear it. They immediately repented in prayer, confessed of their overzealous desire to win the victory, and laid down their sword. The scene changed and the tables were turned. They were now seated on the rock and the Lord was wielding the sword, dueling on their behalf.
What a picture of our Lord, just waiting for us to get tired enough to give up the fight.
Years ago a particular heaviness of heart had me dragging my chin through life’s dust. There’s low, and then there’s lower. Never mind what the weight was; the point is that I was carrying it and weariness had seeped into every pore of my being. I couldn’t plug my heart into a charger like I do my cell phone and simply throw some juice on it. No, this was the weariness of a heart that needed to admit the battle was simply too big and too fierce to go another round.
I remember where I was when I laid down my ‘sword’ in surrender. We still own that blue chair, though retired to another room; but it was for that time the sacred place where I laid all my weary on His altar. This was not my salvation experience (I asked Jesus into my heart at 5 years old), but it was a surrendering experience nonetheless. And it was not the first one, nor do I expect it will be the last one.
In fact, I went through the act of surrender all over again not so long ago. I didn’t get a spiritual mental picture of Jesus wielding the sword on my behalf as Wayne’s client did, but His immediate peace settling over me was as soothing and refreshing as gentle waves lapping the edge of the shore.
How about you? Have you allowed your weary heart a vacation lately? Or have you erringly believed that surrender is for the weak, not realizing that you can only be as strong (in the Lord) as you are willing to be weak (in the flesh)? Sometimes we are called to fight, though never in our own strength. Other times – If we are listening – we will hear Him say…
“Ye shall not need to fight in this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” II Chronicles 20:17a
Praying for your refreshing surrender,
Nurse Nancy
©2010 Nancy C. Bentz – Author’s permission granted to forward this devotional piece in its entirety, including this copyright line. For more devotionals, to leave a comment, or to subscribe to this blog, visit https://shammahsfield.com
Nanc,
Very good article. So often we have not spoken to the Commander-in-Chief, before entering into the fray.
His leading always minimizes the stress or distress of the battle.
Wayne