I want to start looking for words or phrases in my daily Bible reading that move me or capture my attention and ponder them for a few moments. Today it was Psalm 142. David finds himself in a cave and at the end of his own resources. His soul is exhausted and imprisoned. For you and me a prison could be any interior battle or situation that holds us captive.

Bring my soul out of prison,
So that I may give thanks to Your name.  –Psalm 142:7

Although David was a strong and able warrior, he realized that his only hope of living and fulfilling what God had called him to be and to do was God intervening and bringing about his deliverance. This is the same realization of saving grace that ultimately must be embraced and surrendered to by believers in every age.

What sets a soul free?

The controversial author and poet, D.H. Lawrence, longed for liberation in his poem Healing…

I am ill because of wounds to the soul,
to the deep emotional self
and the wounds to the soul take a long, long time,
only time can help
and patience, and a certain difficult repentance
long, difficult repentance, the realization of life’s mistake,
and the freeing oneself
from the endless repetition of the mistake
which mankind at large has chosen to sanctify.

We find surrender in the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (v.3). If Jesus is the most revolutionary person who ever lived and the Sermon on the Mount is His manifesto, then these opening words are His invitation to become citizens of this revolutionary kingdom through acknowledging our spiritual poverty and surrendering to God. One of my mentors said, “The way in is the way on” meaning that surrender is not a one-time event but an on-going, life-long, multilevel process of letting go of the things that hinder us from experiencing the wonder, beauty, and majesty of God. This is the essence of the gospel. When our heart is awakened to the gospel we see that it is not about what we have done–or, haven’t done, it’s about what God has done in sending His Son to lead the perfectly obedient life that was (eternally) beyond our grasp–and die a criminal’s death. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice and atones for our sins as we surrender, repent, and believe. Then there is the daily surrender to what Christ has done on our behalf and trust in what He has done, our deliverance from prison cannot fail. In Christ, we know that His righteousness surrounds us, and our response is gratitude and worship.

My friend, Gordon Dalbey in his book Fight Like a Man, says it well…

• “Tragically, most [of us] cling to our own strength and scoff at snakes until we are bitten – perhaps by divorce, addiction, or serious illness – and must, at last, confess the truth: We are creatures of surrender.  The question for our lives is not whether we will surrender, but rather to what or whom?”  (p. 8).
• “[Surrender] takes your pain out of the Enemy’s reach and places it in God’s hands, to use for his purposes”  (p. 19).