Pressing In and Surrendering

Over the holidays, I found myself thinking about two seemingly different but intimately interwoven aspects of our journey following God.

On the one hand, we press in. We seek for Him with our whole heart. (Psalm 119:2, Jeremiah 29:13, Hebrews 11:6). Jesus tells us to ask, seek, and knock, and gives us the image of a persistent woman knocking without rest as a metaphor for how we are to seek God. (Matthew 7 and Luke 18) The scriptures tell us to come boldly to the throne of grace. (Hebrews 4:16) Come boldly. Ask, seek, knock. Press in. Run the race. Fight the fight. These are images of action, of expectation, of desire taking wings.

On the other hand, we surrender. We come with arms open wide, aware of our powerlessness. We revel in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9). We bow, we fall to our knees, we are made silent. These are images of letting go. Of ceasing from our striving.

The reality is that both of these postures of heart are needed. We press in, but we surrender. We come boldly–we ask, we seek, we knock, but we also bow down in silence and trust. The Holy Spirit at every moment helping us to see which posture to emphasize, and which to let go of. What to embrace and what to release. And maybe we come to realize that two aspect of following God that, on the surface, seem so different, are actually one and the same. Maybe pressing in can look like surrender. Maybe sitting in silent prayer, which seems to inactive, is pressing in. The Holy Spirit showing us in each moment what posture of soul is needed, and which expresses trust in any given moment.

In 2012, may we have incredible wisdom, courage, and trust, to press into and to surrender to God.

Brandon