The Journey of Surrender
by: Cathy Baillis
June 18, 2025
“Show me your ways, oh Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are my God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long”
All throughout the Bible we are told stories of personal surrender to the Lord’s will. For some, surrender came easily and others had resistance out of fear, stubbornness, unconvinced they were hearing correctly, unworthiness, not the right time, sin and the list goes on. The Word of God shows how most of those called to some sort of surrender eventually ended up surrendering to what the Lord was asking them to do, but it was a process.
In Judges 6 the Lord was sending Gideon into battle to save Israel from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon saying “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior” (NIV, Judges 6:12). Gideon did not view himself as a mighty warrior and in fact saw his clan as the weakest and himself being the least of those. “The Lord answered, ‘I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together,’” (NIV, Judges 6:16), but Gideon was not convinced.
“Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised – look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.’ And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew – a bowlful of water” (NIV, Judges 6:36-38). Gideon’s fear was so strong he decided this sign was not enough so he then asked God for a second sign.
“Then Gideon said to God, ‘Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew.’ That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew” (NIV, Judges 6:39-40).
The Lord then reduced the size of Gideon’s army to just 300 warriors to make it clear that the battle would be won because of the Lord and not through the efforts of man. The Lord knew Gideon and to get Gideon’s buy-in to fight the Midianites He offered one last encouragement, (NIV, Judges 7:2-8).
The Lord told Gideon “If you are afraid to attack, you are to go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterword, you will be encouraged to attack the camp” (NIV, Judges 7:10-11). Gideon, being truly afraid, took God’s advice and went to the Midianite camp with his servant. Upon arrival they heard a Midianite man telling his friend about a dream and the interpretation of that dream was that God would give the Midianites into Israel’s hand. Hearing this, Gideon worshiped the Lord and moved forward to defeat the Midianites. Gideon’s surrender was a process, but the Lord was with him every step of the way continuing to draw him into a surrender that saved the nation of Israel.
In the book of Esther, a conspiracy to destroy the Jews was uncovered by Queen Esther’s uncle Mordecai. He petitioned Esther to approach the King to stop the plan to kill the Jews. Queen Esther, secretly a Jew herself, was afraid to go to her King to petition him to save the Israeli people from being killed. The King’s custom was such that if the King had not summoned a person they were not to approach him or would risk death. That is exactly what her uncle Mordecai was asking her to do, approach the King without being summoned.
Esther initially argued that she might be killed, but her uncle was clear that she needed to take this risk in order to try to save the nation of Israel. Esther embarked on a three-day fast of neither food nor drink. After the three-day fast Esther had the courage to surrender her fear and to approach the King. The three-day fast was her turning point to a place of courage under the threat of death, but the bonus was that during the fast, the Lord provided her with a strategic plan as well to save the Jews. Not only were the Jews saved, but the evil culprit that tried to have the Jews destroyed was found out and destroyed. The Lord gives us what we need in surrender and in Esther’s case much more.
Paul’s surrender to Jesus was equally dramatic as he was on his way to Damascus (NIV, Acts 9). After Paul’s conversion and surrender he became a profound evangelist building the early church.
The ultimate example of surrender is Jesus giving His life that we might live with the Father forever.
Each of us faces times in our lives when the Lord is calling us to a place of deeper surrender to His will. Just like in each of the biblical cases mentioned above, the Lord had a great purpose in that surrender, He also has a great purpose for your surrender. I learned this profound lesson in a deeply personal way.
About 10 years ago I had a vision that I was walking by a lake and Jesus was following me speaking to me, but I was not able to hear him. A dear artist friend painted the vision for me and I see this painting on my wall every day. At the time of the vision I knew that the Lord was calling me to get off the fence and go deeper with Him. My answer was “not yet.” I regret that choice because the next 10 years were filled with struggle, pain and ultimately betrayal.
I will never know how much of that could have been avoided if my “not yet” had been “yes.” The Lord never gave up drawing me to Him and I am learning how He blesses surrender to His will. Psalm 91:1 says “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty” (NIV, Psalm 91:1). Dwelling in His shadow opens up a whole new perspective on surrender and way of life.
As I contemplate that verse, I ask the Lord where am I not truly dwelling with Him and He is faithful to reveal that to me. The rest of Psalm 91 is filled with the promises of the Almighty: protection, provision, warning, comfort and salvation. I find that each time the Lord draws me to a new place of surrender He reveals more of who He is and I am learning to hear His voice more clearly. Surrender to Jesus is a process in which the blessings far outweigh the sacrifice.
Worship: I Surrender
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for never giving up on us. You call us to surrender so You can bless us. We are so grateful for the help You provide to bring us to those places of surrender. We praise You that You provide example after example in Your Word so we see we are not alone in this struggle. You are a good Father desiring only to bless us and our lives as we come to You. Thank You for the promises in Your Word and that we can claim those promises for our lives. Thank You for the comfort of Your Holy Spirit Who’s leading us into Your ultimate will and plan for our lives. We treasure the sweet intimacy that You offer when we surrender. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Further Study
Genesis 22:1-19 The Sacrifice of Isaac, Exodus 3 & 4 The Story of Moses
Related Posts
All throughout the Bible we are told stories of personal surrender to the Lord’s will. For some, surrender came easily and others had resistance out of fear, stubbornness, unconvinced they were hearing correctly, unworthiness, not the right time, sin and the list goes on. The Word of God shows how most of those called to some sort of surrender eventually ended up surrendering to what the Lord was asking them to do, but it was a process.