Surrender Isn't Giving Up, It's How It Begins | Mornings with Mico

Good people, what's going on? My name is Nico and welcome to my one-on-one time we got today. We're going to actually this week, we're going to take a pause from my normal readings that I've been doing in Exodus and wanted to actually just camp out in Holy Week. This is Holy Week this week and wanted to just take some time to just explore the different postures of the soul during this week, Holy Week being a week that led up to Jesus being crucified on the cross and ultimately resurrected. And wanted to just kind of take some time each day to just explore just the different heart postures throughout the week that we see Jesus navigating during Holy Week. And so to kick us off today, we're going to start with surrender. And I was thinking about a conversation that I recently had with my younger brother and we were talking about just his walk with Christ, my walk with Christ, and he was just kind of explaining just this desire to just grow in his walk with Christ, his desire to just grow in his relationship. And he had just kind of mentioned like, you know, should I should I be reading more? Should I should I pray more? Should I should I be fasting more? Which is which in and of them, like those aren't bad things, right? Yes, we should probably all pray more, read more, fast more often. But as he was sharing this, as it as it relates to to Holy Week, it's the thought that that all of those things, if they don't stem from a place of surrender, then it just becomes like these efforts, these these these us striving, right, this this striving effort. And it's just so key that those things that those things that we're doing to grow closer to God, they even those things have to have to stem from a place of surrender, surrender. If I could, if you could imagine, like being the the car in drive, right, as opposed to the car in neutral, revving the engine, that would be striving the car and drive. That would be, you know, that's the posture of surrender, right? That allows Jesus to take the wheel. And I know this is just so counterculture. But at the end of the day, like it's it's it's it's it's it's truth, right?

It's the kingdom is going to be, you know, culture upside down king or, you know, worldly culture upside down. And just thinking through this, it's like, you know, what what if this week, right, during Holy Week, what if the most spiritual thing that you could do would actually be to stop striving and to surrender? There's a passage I want us to take a look at as a passage. It's in Psalm 131. This is attributed to King David. And the passage goes, My heart is not proud. Lord, my eyes are not haughty. I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself. I'm like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child. I am content. Israel, put your hope in the Lord, both now and forevermore. As I was reading this, there's something that really just one of the things that pops out at me is just the level of humility that David has here. My heart is not proud, Lord. My eyes are not haughty. I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. And it's like, this isn't just like some Joe Schmoe, you know, lounging on the couch watching Netflix and that I don't concern myself with, you know, great matters or things too wonderful for me. Like, you know, like these lofty thoughts or things that are just like too beyond me to understand, God, like I can't I can't lean on my own understanding to figure these things out, Lord. I don't even concern myself with those things, right? Wisdom is going to be divine, right? It's going to be given to me, so I'm not going to bother spending my time trying to figure out these things that ultimately, you know, they only they'll only come from you.

That's what he's saying there. And it's like, this is this is the king of Israel. This is the king of a nation who's declaring this right in all its humility with every all. pressure that's on his shoulders to have the right answers, to figure the things out. He's saying, Lord, I'm, I'm, I'm at peace, right? I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, uh, my heart won't be proud. My eyes won't be halty and I'll be at peace. I'll be at peace. He says, he goes on to say, but I have calmed and quieted myself. I'm like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child. I'm content. I just, this, this, the contentment you see here, the, the at ease you see here, I think it's worth noting that a weaned child, it's, it's, it's not hungry, right? It's simply resting. It's resting in the presence. It's, it's present and it's, it's, it's resting. It's, it's, it's satisfied. I'm reminded of, um, a quote by John Piper, um, just a, a great modern day giant of the faith. He says, um, God is most glorified in us. We are most satisfied in him. And it's, it's, it's, it's just so apparent that we can see it throughout scripture that it's this posture of surrender that God responds to. I want it to be, I want to, I feel like I have to, you know, not a disclaimer, but I, but I, I think, you know, I can only imagine just some of the, the, the negative connotation that goes with surrender, you know, it's like quitting or giving up, but that's, again, that's not kingdom. That's, that's not what, what, what scripture means when it says surrender, it's, it's, it's actually, it's surrender isn't dormant. Surrender isn't giving up. Surrender is actually active. Surrender is, it's, it's a choice to, to trust something bigger than yourself. We see Jesus and, um, the garden of Gethsemane, you know, not my will, but that will be done or right before he steps into, you know, this calling for the cross, you know, that, that, that's, that's his, um, that's his calling. He, he, he starts from a posture of surrender. Like, okay, God, I give you my yes and whatever I'll come to you with my desires, my hopes, my preferences. But when I give you my yes, my yes is from a posture of surrender. And you do with that as, as you see fit. I think that, um, I think that surrender, it's not, and I wouldn't just say, I think this is my way of wording something that, that, that, that we see in scripture, but surrender isn't the end of the story, right? I want us to be clear on that. Surrender isn't the end of the story. Surrender is actually the beginning of the story. It's actually the beginning of the story that God is

writing through you. The question is, will you let him, will you let him write the story that he wants to write with your life by way of your yes? Um, I think, um, I love for us to just take some time today and just reflect, um, sit with God and just reflect what are some areas in your personal life that you recognize that you may be straining or striving forward, right? That you may be, you know, gripping tightly to carry something that maybe you were never meant to carry alone. And maybe some of the frustration that you may be feeling or some of the stagnation you may be feeling, maybe what if the answer to that is simply to surrender? Maybe it applies, maybe it doesn't, but I'd go as far as to tell you, don't be the judge of whether or not it applies or not. Like, like, like the Simon says in 139, search me, Oh Lord, let the Holy spirit search your heart and let the Holy spirit reveal to you whether or not there may be something that you may be clinging too tightly to that he's calling you to surrender in order to move forward. Um, yeah, I want to pray for us and, um, yeah, I want to pray for us, Lord. We just, um, we come to you Lord, um, this week with full hands and full schedules, possibly even full anxieties. And we just ask you Lord to help us, help us to grow and surrender to loosen our grip on the things that We're trying to control and to allow space for you to come in and you help us to carry the things that you've called us to. Open our eyes to see, open our hearts to be receptive, open our minds to understand. Pray all this in your son Jesus name. Amen.