Surrender in Prayer

by Erin Bird

Last week on the blog, I talked about prayer. In light of last Sunday's topic of surrender, I thought I would combine these two topics of prayer and surrender by looking at Psalm 5.

Psalm 5:1-2 says:

"Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray."

I love the honesty of this psalm. David is crying out to God, because he feels he has no where else to turn. He has reached a point that he is completely dependent upon God.

In other words, he is totally surrendered.

The other day, a friend posted some difficult news on his Facebook page. One commenter replied (I'm paraphrasing), "God has a plan - He will never give you more than you can handle. Stay strong!"

Yet, when I look at David's prayer, it would seem to me he felt like God had given him more than he could handle. That's why he is crying out to God! He has reached a place where he has no choice but to surrender, to let God be in control as King of David's life.

Let me encourage you to not wait until you are at rock bottom to cry out and surrender to God. Even in the good moments, stay surrendered. Let your words reflect an attitude of surrender. Because a life surrendered to God ends can echo verse 11 of this same psalm:

"But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy."

I want to see you live a life filled with rejoicing. But a truly joy-filled life will only come with a surrendered life.

So may you live surrendered before God, even in your prayers.