Surrender but Don’t Give Up

I was recently reminded of a time in 2022 when God showed me, through the story of Jacob from the Bible, to surrender but don’t give up.

It was a time when my son, Landry, was home recuperating from his prior month’s hospitalization. One of the injuries Landry was recovering from was a shattered hip.

As I was talking to my mom on the phone one day, she said that my dad had a dream that I had broken my hip. She told my dad that his dream must have been in reference to Landry. 

I agreed and told my mom that it also reminded me of a recent conversation Landry and I had about the story of Jacob. Jacob had been trying to do things his way, until one day, he found himself wrestling with God. Jacob walked away with a dislocated hip and a limp in his step, but also with a changed name and God’s blessing.

A short while after I hung up the phone with my mom, though, God began to show me how my dad’s dream was not just about Landry, it was also about me.

Though Jacob wrestled with God and surrendered as he came to the end of himself, at the same time, he didn’t give up until God did what He had promised. And there were things in my life that God had promised that I hadn’t seen come to fruition yet.

So this was an encouragement to me to not give up. To keep seeking God and believing in what He had promised until I saw it happen.

God doesn’t need reminders from us so that He won’t forget. God never forgets His promises. Rather our reminders to God are to show Him that we haven’t forgotten. That we haven’t given up. That we take Him at His word. That we’re going to keep asking, seeking, and knocking on God’s door until we see what God has promised.

And in the process, we will see God Himself.

Not too long ago, I read a devotional based on the story of Jacob which pointed out that physical wrestling requires you to get close … and how when we “wrestle” with God by bringing our questions to Him, we draw closer to Him.

I have found this to be true. In my own times of wrestling with God, I have drawn closer to Him. When I have been in God’s face, I have seen His face. 

God wants us to come to Him with our questions – it’s part of relationship building. And the closer we draw to God, the more of Him we see. The more we see of God, the more we rely on Him and the less we rely on ourselves – our thinking, our logic, our timing, our way.

We surrender to God’s will, but we don’t give up on God’s promises.

For when we come to the end of ourselves, and call upon God to do what He has promised, we position ourselves to receive what He has promised.