Surrender: The Path To Peace
REVIEW
IN SHOCK-cry out to God, let others help me
IN SORROW-you go through it, not around it
-list the losses you never grieved
-identify what is really lost
-ask Jesus to heal my broken heart
IN STRUGGLE-learn to lament in the Biblical way (feel angry)
Complain: tell God what I think is unfair or painful
Appeal to God's nature
Remind God of what He has said (promises)
Express my total trust in God
Everything written in the Scriptures was written to teach us, in order that we might have HOPE (Romans 15:4)
SURRENDER-pathway to peace
David's Loss Of A Child-1 Samuel 12:16-24
David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. the leaders of the nation pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused. Then on the seventh day the baby died. David's advisers were afraid to tell him. 'He was so broken up about the baby being sick,' they said. 'What will he do to himself when we tell him the child is dead?' But when David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. 'Is the baby dead?' he asked. 'Yes,' they replied. (2 Samuel 12:16-19)
(God didn't spare His Own Son or David's son who was a man after God's own heart)
STEPS OF SURRENDER
1. Accept what cannot be changed.
David said, 'I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I thought perhaps the Lord would be
gracious and let the child live. But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back
again? (2 Samuel 12:22-23)
2. Not the end of the story/belief
I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me. (2 Samuel 12:23b)
One day closer to reuniting every day
We can't see heaven from here-help my unbelief
3. Take care of yourself
Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions, and changed his clothes.
(2 Samuel 12:20a)
participate in life again
can grieve and live simultaneously
4. Refocus on God through worship
Then he went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord.(2 Samuel 12:20b)
I tried to understand all this, but it was too hard for me to see until I went to the Temple of God.
Then I understood... (Psalm 73:16-17)
quietness, stillness
safe place
5. Do something productive
After that, he returned to the palace and ate. (2 Samuel 12:20c)
palace-place of productivity
don't have to stop mourning in order to start moving-requires faith
6. Keep on loving even in your pain
Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave
birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. (2 Samuel 12:24)
Love=pain, pain deepens love
We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our
lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:16)
Personal notes:
The death of a son or daughter is one of the hardest losses to deal with in your life
In a pit, can't get out of it
Grief gets us through transitions in life
Losses you've never grieved
Let go of pain
Everyone has bad things happen to them
Three choices: destroy you, define you, develop you
Minds reject shocking news
Acceptance-doesn't mean you stop caring, it doesn't hurt, it's good
*What do I need to accept that's over in my life?*
Beauty from ashes-how is the question
Mystery pot of questions
God will not let ashes be the end of the story
reference to A Grace Disguised book:
Think of past-loved one there
Hard to envision a future without them
Limbo land-stay in present
nagging sense of guilt-forgetting or neglecting loved one?
The future is the Lord's
Temptation-to turn away from God
not long-term responses/solutions
THIS GOD
2 Corinthians 5:7-walk by faith, not by sight
step out on it, holds you up, more we trust
Take a step of faith
Redirect your love
What you've got left
Mother Theresa, paradox of love: If you love until it hurts then there can be no more hurt, only more love
Whole serenity prayer (look up)
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