Submission (and freedom)

Submit.  

A word which so often elicits a response of dislike.

So what exactly does it even mean and why would we want to?...

Submitting is spoken of a few times in the Old Testament as something which is pretended by those who don’t really love God.  Psalm 66 speaks to this:

Say to God, “how awesome are Your works! Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to Your name.”...

(Psalm 66:3-4 NASB)

Those that reject God still recognize the need to submit to Him, though they implement it wrongly.

In contrast, hear the words of David as he continues on, as one who recognizes God’s goodness:

All the earth will worship You, And will sing praises to You; They will sing praises to Your name." Selah. Come and see the works of God, Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men.  He turned the sea into dry land; They passed through the river on foot; There let us rejoice in Him! He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations; Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.  Bless our God, O peoples, And sound His praise abroad, Who keeps us in life and does not allow our feet to slip. For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins.  You made men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water, yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.  shall come into Your house with burnt offerings; I shall pay You my vows,  Which my lips uttered and my mouth spoke when I was in distress.  

(Psalm 66:5-14)

And then comes the natural response of one who has engaged with and trusts God’s goodness:

I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat beasts, With the smoke of rams; I shall make an offering of bulls with male goats. Selah.  Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul.  I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue.  If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear;  But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me.

(Psalm 66:15-20)

The natural response to a God we can trust is to submit to Him.  

We offer Him our lives, we declare His praise, and we surrender our sin to Him.

God desires this submission from us and has established roles in the physical world to which we must submit: pastors and elders (1 cor 16:16, Heb 13:17, 1 pet 5:5), parents (Eph 6:2), husbands [for you ladies] (Eph 5:22, Col. 3:18) , people of authority in the workplace (Eph 6:5), and government officials (1 Pet 2:13).   

These earthly requirements of submission, however are an overflow of first submitting to Christ.  Over and over again in scripture, as we see submission commanded, we see the reminder that we are to do so “as to Christ”, “as to the Lord”, “for the Lord’s sake”.  

Our natural response to His faithfulness is to submit first and foremost to Him, and thus to those He has put over us.

And I’m thinking through all this as I’m deciding (and worrying) about employment decisions.  I’m wondering if I’ve made the right decision and if I’ve missed a better opportunity.  And all of a sudden it hits me:

My job is not to line everything up the best possible way; my job is to trust God right where I’m at.  Submitting is giving up control, no longer needing to figure out how to do things right because only God is able.  

And then I get to Romans 10:3...

For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

Submitting begins with understanding God’s true place and then with understanding our true place and surrendering to that.

And it’s lived out in the comment from my dad about being a medical professional and how people come to you as an “authority on the issue.”  They know their place and they know his place and they live right there.

And it’s lived out in how the tourists to France are warned not to order their dinner and  ask for certain parts of it to be left out.  The chef has spent time creating exactly what is best paired together and he knows best.

And it’s lived out in the life of David.  

He decides he wants to build God a temple and God responds by reminding David who he is and reminding David who He is.  God turns everything on its head and tells David that he will not be the one to build God a house, but in fact, that God will build David a house.  He takes what David wants to do for God and reminds him that it is rather about who God is towards David that makes all the difference.

And David’s response of praise is reflective of his heart that is submitted to God.  Only a heart that is humble before God can embrace their rightful place before Him (James 4:6-7).

But why in the world would we want to embrace that we are helpless without God?  And why would we want to embrace a God who is completely holy?

Because as we begin to live in this place, we begin to find that rather than being a place of confinement and restriction, it is a place of freedom and peace.

Someone once said that freedom is not the ability to do what we want, but the ability to be who we were made to be.  

And peace (Shalom) is not the absence of trouble, but rather life “as it should be”.

 And so, when we begin to live lives of submission to our Father, we live life as it was made to be lived.  And it no longer becomes about what we can do for Him, but about what He has already done; who He is.

And that is true Shalom.  That is life “as it should be”.

Only in an upside-down economy can giving up your everything bring freedom beyond belief.