Lent is a time to step back, strip away distractions, and allow God to be God. It’s a season of sacrifice, silence, growth, prayer, and renewal. Too often, we try to take control of everything in our lives from our pain to our healing to our futures. Some of us might even try to control the people around us. But this holy season reminds us that our greatest strength comes, not from holding on to what we can’t control, but from surrendering everything to God.
Letting Go of Control
Our world values independence and self-sufficiency. We are fed the message that, “You can do it all! You can have it all!” Yet, Jesus calls us to something different. He calls us to complete dependence on Him. We may not understand His ways, but we are called to trust Him no matter what, even when the path before us is unclear.
What are we holding onto that prevents us from letting God be God? Is it fear? Anger? Distrust? A need for answers? This Lent let’s ask God for the grace to let go of the steering wheel and let Him do the driving.
Silence and Surrender
Lent is also a time for silence. I’m not just referring to external silence (although that’s good to have every so often), but rather an inner silence where we can truly listen to God speaking to us. The world around us is loud. We’re surrounded by phones, computers, TV’s, technology, cars, voices, etc. The thoughts and worries in our minds can be even louder. When God speaks to us in the silence as He so often chooses to, are we willing and able to make room for His voice? Or are we so focused on the noise of the world and our own selves that we shut Him out?
Surrendering to God doesn’t mean being passive. Rather, it means actively choosing to trust in God’s goodness, even when we don’t see the entire chapter of our story. It means bringing all our brokenness to Him with the understanding that His grace is greater than any of our wounds.
The Promise of the Resurrection
No matter what you have been through (good or bad, betrayal, suffering, loss, or the deepest of wounds) the Resurrection is on the horizon. It’s waiting. Jesus suffered and died, but He did not stay in the darkness of the tomb. Neither will we. We all have to cling to the hope of the Resurrection. There truly is always hope!
This Lent, I want to motivate you to embrace the sacrifices, the prayer, silence, and the growth. Most of all, I want to encourage you to embrace the truth that God is God, and none of us is greater than Him. That’s a good thing! Praise God that we don’t have to be God because that’s quite a big job! Let God be God and remember that our suffering leads to glory.
Let go. Be still. Let God be God.
