CONSIDER YOUR SURRENDER

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DAY 7 - January 11

Today, we are going to wrap up week 1 of our 21 Days of prayer and fasting as well as our study on the book of Ezra by looking at chapters 9 and 10.  If you have time, go ahead and read both chapters in their entirety! However, I will also be offering shorter excerpts from these two passages for you to read throughout our study today.  Now, let’s dive in!

Over the past week, we have been intentional in “considering our ways” when it comes to our families, relationships, authority, worship, and stewardship.  And today, our focus will be centered around surrender.  

If you haven’t already done so, go ahead and read Ezra 9:1-2.

Here in Ezra 9, we see a bit of a shift in tone.  Did you catch that?  Where chapters 7 and 8 were overflowing with “The Lord gives this” and “the king gives that”, chapter 9 brings back into focus the truth that He is still good, He is still faithful, and He is still God, and we are still very much not!  For yes, God’s people have rebuilt the temple and have begun to reinstate the order of the priests as well as sacrifices as outlined in the Law of Moses, but there were still some things they had yet to surrender to the Lord - namely, the way they had grown accustomed to marrying Canaanites and Hittites.  

Now, you may be thinking, what’s the big deal?  Is it so wrong to marry people from other countries and tribes?  Hasn’t that been going on for generations, even in those early years of the world?  To answer those questions, take a moment to read Ezra 9:10-12.

So, I ask you again - What was the big deal regarding this whole “intermarriage” issue?  Well, in doing so, they literally disobeyed God’s command.  A command, I might add, that He gave in order to protect them from the influence of the surrounding idol-worshiping nations creeping into their own lives and worship - a temptation they had fallen into many times in generations past and the sin that led to the exile of the ancestors from which they are just now returning!  

Talk about a face-palm moment and the epitome of Paul’s words in Romans 7:15:

“I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do,but what I hate I do.” (NIV)

If you were to do any study of the history of the Israelites, you will quickly learn that this is their MO.  No sooner do they consecrate themselves fully to the Lord than we find them stepping outside of His clear and concise boundary lines, placed there to keep them from falling to temptation once again.  And yet…here we go again…

It would be easy for us to shake our heads in disappointment; however, that would be nothing more than the pot calling the kettle black.  For if we are honest with ourselves, we share the same MO.  The Lord has given us the entire Bible, filled with encouragements, cautions, and boundary lines to help keep us safely within Him.  He has blessed us with churches filled with other believers to serve as an encouragement and accountability.  He has even called and anointed ministers to preach and teach, helping us to more fully understand and live within His guidelines for our lives.  And yet, day after day, month after month, year after year…here we go again…

Oftentimes, we credit this propensity to “do what we hate to do” to our sin nature.  Which is true, but only in part.  You see, the key issue being faced by the Israelites then and us today is less about sin and more about surrender.  Yes, it is our sin nature that can cause us to step outside of God’s perfect will; however, it is our lack of surrender that continually places us in the place of temptation time and time again.  

Had the Israelites listened to the Lord and obeyed His commands, their story would look vastly different!  Even just walking in obedience to the whole “don’t intermarry and allow outside influence into your heart and life” thing would have had a drastic effect!  But though they loved the Lord deeply and were returning to Him passionately, the Lord paused the praise party to remind them there was still an issue of surrender at hand.  

Before we go any further, take a moment to ask the Lord to search your heart and life and reveal to you any areas in your own life that you have not yet surrendered to Him fully.  Ask Him to shine light on the areas in which you have forgotten that He is still God and you are still very much not.  Write down all that He reveals to you.

Now that you have taken some time to reflect on some “surrender issues” in your own life, let’s talk about what we are supposed to do about them!  After all, just going to the doctor and getting a medical diagnosis doesn’t solve the issue; it only sheds light on it, confirms it.  So what is the “prescription” for this “surrender issue” diagnosis?

Go ahead and grab your Bible and read Ezra 10:1-17.

In those 17 verses, we see three key elements of correcting those “surrender issues”.   Now, before we take a look at them, I want to be clear: these key elements are not intended to be a “formula for forgiveness”, for we know that forgiveness comes “by grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Instead, they are like common roadblocks we should consider when working with the Lord to overcome our own surrender issues.  With that said, let’s dive in!

The first thing we see take place in Ezra 10 is the people mourned.  There was a shift at the beginning of this chapter, when it was no longer only Ezra weeping over the sin of God’s people.  Now it is the people weeping over their sin themselves.  For this to happen, two key things must have taken place:  (1) They recognized their sin.  (2) They acknowledged their sin.  At first glance, those two things appear to be one and the same.  However, they are quite different.

You see, in this instance, recognizing sin simply meant they made note that yes, intermarriage was in fact something God commanded them not to do.  A command that was broken.  Acknowledging sin, however, goes much deeper.  It gets personal.  By acknowledging their sin, they are “fessing up”, if you will, to the presence of sin in their own hearts and lives.  For even those who didn’t outright break the law in action broke it in heart and spirit when they supported and condoned those who did.  

I challenge you, before you move on in today's study, take a moment to reflect in prayer and ask the Lord, “Are there any areas in my life that I need to not only recognize but also acknowledge as sin?’  

Now, let’s look back at our passage in Ezra 10.  Once sin is recognized and acknowledged in their lives, the next step is repentance.  To repent doesn’t just mean to “ask for forgiveness”.  No, repentance goes so much deeper than that.  True repentance means going beyond acknowledgement of sin and completely turning away from it - a moment marked by a changed life, not just a feeling of remorse.  We see this take place in Ezra 10:3 when they say they will “put away” the wives and children born of sin.  

Once again, I want you to pause and ask yourself: are there areas in your life that you need to not only recognize and acknowledge, but also take the step to truly repent?  If yes, take a moment to take that to the Lord in prayer here and now.  Committing to turn away fully from that sin, committing to live life fully within His desire, purpose, and plan for your life.

And finally, the third key to overcoming this “surrender issue” - they surrendered.  Just as repentance goes deeper than recognition and acknowledgement, so surrender goes deeper than repentance.  For without surrender, you will find yourself in the continual loop of recognition and repentance.  You are, in essence, leaving the stumbling block in your path.  This is what happened with the Israelites when they disobeyed God and, once again, intermarried.  Their recognition and acknowledgement were honest, their repentance was sincere, but their surrender was non-existent.  Their mouths said “Lord help us!  Save us!” but their actions (i.e., neglecting to follow His warning and command to “not intermarry”) said “Thanks for the help, God!  We got it from here!”

Are there areas in your own life where a lack of surrender has kept a stumbling block in your path?  You know what I’m talking about - those boundary lines that the Holy Spirit has been nudging you to put in place, but you have reasoned your way out of it, falsely believing that “I’ve got it from here!”  

Like the Israelites, too many of us have grown comfortable with receiving the gift of Jesus as Savior but stop short of surrendering to Him as Lord.  What does that mean?  That means we are content to live our lives with Him as our safety net rather than our guardrails.  We are happy to let Him catch us when we fall, when, in reality, if we were to surrender to His perfectly laid boundaries, we would avoid the danger of falling altogether.  Anyone else feeling a bit convicted? 

If we are honest with ourselves, I think most of us would have to admit that what we have been calling a “sin issue” is actually a “surrender issue.” It’s less about the stumbling block itself and more about our refusal to surrender the stumbling block, allowing Him to be LORD of our lives, and living safely within the boundary lines He has so lovingly placed for us. So today, as you reflect on the questions below, dig deep and be brutally honest with yourself and with the Lord - taking the time to recognize, acknowledge, repent, and surrender!

1. Are there any sins in my life that I have been blind to that I need to recognize?

2. Are there any sins in my life that I need to take that step and acknowledge?

3. Are there any sins in my life that I need to repent of?  (Fully turning away from - seeing a change in my mind, heart, and direction, resulting in a changed life, not just a bad feeling.)

4. Are there any areas of my life that I need to surrender? (Removing the stumbling block by choosing to not only receive Him as my savior but to live within His perfectly laid boundary lines as my Lord!)

As we close out week one, take a moment to review this week's memory verse once again.  Don’t forget to continue to review it in the days, weeks, and months ahead as you continue to hide His word deep in your heart and mind.  

​“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 (KJV)