Life Begins When We Surrender.

“God, why did this happen?” That may be a question you have boldly asked him, or it’s a question you’re silently wrestling with, afraid of what could happen if you actually talked to God about it. You might be thinking He will be mad if you question him, that speaking like that is too informal, or worse He won’t answer. life begins when we surrender

Friends, I can assure you that your Heavenly Father hears you. And not only can he handle those tough questions, he anticipates them. But if you try to understand by yourself, and allow these questions and the feelings that come with them to stay in the dark, they will consume you. Odds are those unattended wounds will infect others you come in contact with.

Friends, life begins when we surrender knowing it all to God, and walk by faith. We may not understand the journey, but we can trust the one guiding it, even when it hurts.

The tree of life or knowledge

Are you the type of person that highlights, writes and circles things in your bible or the book that you are reading? I love to look over what I had written down in the past while reading scripture- and seeing what God was speaking to me, one of which gave me this heading.

“Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. The LORD God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground-trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit.

In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Genesis 2:8-9

I had highlighted the last sentence in verse 9 and wrote, “Life begins when we surrender knowing to God and walk by faith.” This concept came to me that there are two paths, one that gives you freedom and one that keeps you bound.

What did God really say?

God told Adam and Eve they could eat from any of the trees, except for one. He knew what was good for them and what was not, they just had to trust him. And that’s the one thing the enemy has been after since the beginning- making us question God and diminishing our faith in him.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it or you will die.”

You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”

Genesis 3:1-6

The enemy is always distorting the truth (you can read more about that here→ 20/20 Vision, but Blind) and you can see it in his questioning to Eve. He tempted her with something desirable, to be like God and know all. We see the downfall of humanity that stemmed from wanting to be God.

Can we Ask God Why?

Well, if we can’t I’m going to be in trouble. I not only believe God welcomes our why questions, I believe he loves when we are honest with him. You may be thinking how can God welcome our why questions, when we just read about Eve being tempted with the desire to be like God-knowing all?

That’s actually it. It comes down to our intention and our heart posture. The scriptures don’t say that Eve stopped to include God in this conversation. It doesn’t say she asked him why it would be bad for them to indulge in fruit that would give them his wisdom. She acted without getting his perspective.

But when we come to our father because we can’t bear the pain of a situation or understand, our heavenly dad is compassionate. Of course, he would want to aide in that. It’s a heart posture of humility, admitting that we are human and need him. Trying to hold the weight of everything that goes on in our lives and around us was never a job we were intended to do. So many of us fall in the habit of trying to play God, and wonder why we get stuck in frustration, bitterness, and without peace.

Even if…

Circling back to the question, “Can we ask God why?” Yes, but what are we focusing on more? Coming to him, to gain his peace, and acknowledging that he may give us the answer to that why question, but trusting that he is good (and his ways are higher) even if he doesn’t let us know the full extent? Or are we clinging to the idea of knowing it all- driving a wedge in our trust with God?

Friends, sometimes knowing why things happened the way they did will only further our pain, and our Heavenly Dad loves us too much to enhance what we are already feeling. I love the famous Philippians 4:7 verse, but I love the whole picture that’s painted when you read the verses leading up to it.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:4-7

It let’s us know that God is always with us, and we have no reason to be anxious when we keep our eyes focused on him instead of our situation. It tells us that we do need to be praying in all situations and with thanksgiving we can ask him “why”. Even if he doesn’t tell us the exact reason, we can trust that his peace will not only fill us but will subdue the need to “know it all.”

Final Thoughts:

Friends, I will never dismiss what you have gone through or are currently facing. Life is hard and we are human- so to say we will never be sad or face hardships would be a lie. I encourage you to bring all of your feelings to God. He loves you more than you could imagine. Sometimes it can be hard knowing how powerful God is and trying to comprehend why he doesn’t swoop in and prevent certain things from taking place. I get it, I’ve asked that question.

We live in a broken world, sin is rampant and God gives people free will. He is not a dictator. Sure- he hopes everyone would make good choices and even follow and love his son, but he doesn’t force it. We will have pain while we are here, but we can hold onto the hope of living in a pain free world on the other side of eternity. So when those why questions go unanswered and all you have left is your hope in Jesus-friend, that’s all you need.

“…They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Revelation 21:3-4

Jesus Asked Why too

I once listened to a pastor speak on spending time in communication with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit separately. In fact- when I went through a hard time years ago, I spent most of my time speaking to Jesus alone. I felt he could understand how I felt with God. One way I knew I could begin asking God the hard questions that were piling up inside me- was discovering Jesus did the same thing hanging on the cross.

“From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli lema sabachthani?” (which means, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me.”

Matthew 27:45-46

With time, Jesus gave me the perspective that God never implemented that hurtful situation in my life, in fact he was right there with me feeling the same pain. Our heavenly Dad never left Jesus on that cross, He never left me in my situation, and friend, he never left you in yours.

with love,

Em

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