¹⁴ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. – Hebrews 4:14-16 (ESV)

What if we lived our lives confident in God and all He is? What if we truly recognized God’s Truth as absolute reality (as opposed to our views and thoughts and wisdom)? What if we fully surrendered all to the Lord – our families, our jobs, our time, our treasure, our relationships, our past, our present our future…?

What if our hearts and minds – our whole lives – were more in tune with Jesus and God’s ways instead of pursuing all the stuff life on earth tempts us with?

What if we just give up boldly? Just surrender all and let the Lord reign over our lives, our thoughts, our careers, our time etc,

If we’re looking for peace in our lives, a closer walk with God, more clarity about God’s will and purpose, we have to surrender everything to Jesus. When we surrender to God, we recognize His sovereignty over all and stop fighting against Him for what we think we want. Instead of chasing after the “good” things of this world, we find peace, joy and rest in the Lord, knowing He is in control and we are not.

Being God is out of our pay grade, Only He is the Creator and Sustainer of all. He is not bound by space or time. He is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent – in other words, sovereign over all. No thing and no one can outmatch the Lord our God in any way, shape or form.

Consider God’s reply to Job when all had been taken from him and his friends were there to impart their idea of “wisdom” to Job:

38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

² “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
³ Dress for action like a man;
    I will question you, and you make it known to me.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
⁵ Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
⁶ On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone,
⁷ when the morning stars sang together
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸ “Or who shut in the sea with doors
    when it burst out from the womb,
⁹ when I made clouds its garment
    and thick darkness its swaddling band,
¹⁰ and prescribed limits for it
    and set bars and doors,
¹¹ and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
    and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

¹² “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
    and caused the dawn to know its place,
¹³ that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
    and the wicked be shaken out of it?
¹⁴ It is changed like clay under the seal,
    and its features stand out like a garment.
¹⁵ From the wicked their light is withheld,
    and their uplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶ “Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
¹⁷ Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
    or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
¹⁸ Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
    Declare, if you know all this.

¹⁹ “Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
    and where is the place of darkness,
²⁰ that you may take it to its territory
    and that you may discern the paths to its home?
²¹ You know, for you were born then,
    and the number of your days is great!

²² “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
    or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
²³ which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
    for the day of battle and war?
²⁴ What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
    or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

²⁵ “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain
    and a way for the thunderbolt,
²⁶ to bring rain on a land where no man is,
    on the desert in which there is no man,
²⁷ to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
    and to make the ground sprout with grass?

²⁸ “Has the rain a father,
    or who has begotten the drops of dew?
²⁹ From whose womb did the ice come forth,
    and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
³⁰ The waters become hard like stone,
    and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹ “Can you bind the chains of⁾the Pleiades
    or loose the cords of Orion?
³² Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
    or can you guide the Bear with its children?
³³ Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
    Can you establish their rule on the earth?

³⁴ “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
    that a flood of waters may cover you?
³⁵ Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go
    and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
³⁶ Who has put wisdom in the inward parts
    or given understanding to the mind?
³⁷ Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
    Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
³⁸ when the dust runs into a mass
    and the clods stick fast together?

³⁹ “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
    or⁾satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens
    or lie in wait in their thicket?
⁴¹ Who provides for the raven its prey,
    when its young ones cry to God for help,
    and wander about for lack of food? – Psalm 38 (ESV)

Let’s face it: God would have had every right to destroy humanity at the fall. When Adam and Eve chose disobedience over God – a lie from the serpent over the Truth of the Lord – God could have just escorted them out of the garden and smote them right outside the gates.

But He didn’t. He created for them – for us – a path to restoration and salvation.

Did God cause them to sin? Absolutely not! The choice was there’s.

Did God know they would sin? Absolutely! And He created them – us – anyway.

Why?

Love, that’s why. God loved humanity then. And He loves us now.

Despite our rejection of Him through sin, He loves us beyond measure.

Even when we are in rebellion, He still abandons the 99 the bring us back to His fold.

Even when we drop the ball, His mercy and grace are available to us.

Jesus knows. Jesus understands. Jesus cares.

Remember, Jesus – Who gave His life willingly for our salvation (and what He endured for us is not sufficiently expressed in these words) – was God Incarnate. He walked with us. He was greatly tempted by the enemy with all the things that draw us to the world (wealth, power etc.). He knew hunger. He knew oppression. He knew how it felt to be alone and abandoned. He knew all the things that cause us fear.

Jesus knows what you’re facing. He knows every pain, every need, every circumstance, every distraction, every problem, every fear… He knows because He faced what we face while He walked on this earth.

We can go to God boldly, with confidence in all He is, and seek His help, confident that He hears us and loves us. He may not answer our prayers as we want or expect. He may not relieve the pain immediately. But He will equip us to follow Him, to surrender to Him, to see all through the eyes of faith instead of our flawed and limited reasoning.

He will show us the Truth. He will make a way for us.

God is sovereign over all. The outcome of life is in His hands.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. – Matthew 6:33 (ESV)

For more encouragement on your walk with Jesus, please visit us at http://www.bouvillediarist.com.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.