‘For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.’ (v9) 2 Chronicles 16:7–9
It might seem a considerable demand to request a heart fully committed to God. In the past, I’ve assumed it’s what I do for God that somehow establishes my Christian credentials.
Yet, in a season when I was brought very low, I found God present regardless of my inability to do anything. I was 27 and collapsed with physical exhaustion. Full commitment is made up of surrender, seeking, sitting and serving.
Surrender is a recognition that we are completely at another’s mercy. It’s all too easy to surrender parts, but not all of our life. Or to negotiate terms for our surrender. There are no terms but a complete capitulation to God.
From a place of submission, in which we voluntarily choose to hold nothing back from God, we go in search of what’s available in this place of surrender. How are we to live, since all we’ve known we have surrendered? Seeking God is the fundamental activity of a committed disciple learning to live under God’s instruction.
Then we sit, realising that in fact, God invites us to wait on Him. We do this in prayer, for prayer accompanies us throughout our day (1 Thess. 5:17). We discover how to sit with God, whether active or resting. Developing this sense of God’s continuous presence deepens our hunger to search for more of God.
Finally, we serve, for we see clearly who we are in God and how God has formed us to represent His purposes on earth in the best way we can.
SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER: Psa. 32; 27; Matt. 6: 25–34; Luke 10:38–42.
AN ACTION TO TAKE: Explore when and how you can build your daily life and time styled around surrender, seeking, sitting and serving.
A PRAYER TO MAKE: ‘Lord, help me to live my life fully committed to You. Amen.’
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