I like to play golf. I used to be way better at it than I am now. But I guess that’s true of
most everything else I measure about myself these days.
The reason I like it is the competitive nature of it. Even when you play alone, you’re
competing against par, or your course record, etc. And when other players are involved,
there’s even fiercer competition. You’re always testing yourself on every shot.
Sometimes there are ties in golf. And usually, unless it’s match play, there is a playoff. I
love playoffs, because the pressure and competition is even greater, and because the
players that are tied are playing the best at the moment.
Sometimes, in more casual situations, the playoff can be a “one shot—closest to the
hole” competition. In those cases, John hits his shot and his opponent Paul then hits the
same shot and whoever gets the ball closer to the hole wins.
Here’s an analogy. If you are John and you hit first, you take your time, take a deep
breath, focus, think about ALL of the best swings tips, the shot conditions, make your
best analysis, and hit the best shot that you can. You put everything into it. Your best
shot! Nothing left over. All you got!!!
But then, there’s this thing that happens to John. He actually relaxes a bit. Because
what Paul does with his shot is completely out of John’s control. There is nothing John
can do now to affect the outcome. He’s given it his all. Tried his best. Left it all out there.
Now, whatever happens, happens.
In a way of putting it, John “surrenders” to the situation, to Paul’s shot result, to the
match’s outcome. There is nothing more he can do.
In life, I find that during difficulties, during “storms”, we fight as hard as we can, we give
it our all, and sometimes we defeat the foe. But other times, we don’t, and we get
frustrated that we can’t “control the situation”. We then usually pray for “peace in the
storm” and ask others to pray that too. But peace can be illusive.

Now, there are definite times that peace does come. Jesus is the author of peace and
even modeled it for His disciples during a boat trip one time. “Peace, be still”. He still
brings peace.
But I’ve found that at other times, He is looking for “surrender” instead. See, surrender
is completely different. The soldier who achieves peace is a winner! The soldier who
surrenders feels like a loser. In almost any way you can look at it, peace is better.
So there’s an easy choice between peace and surrender. But I’m advocating here for
choosing the one that the Lord is leading us to, whichever one it is, and NOT FIGHTING
HIM when He presents surrender as the choice!!
This is our tendency. To keep fighting to the end. But as in the golf playoff analogy, after
you’ve hit your shot, given it your all, done everything, you literally can’t do anything
else.
We don’t usually understand it when Jesus prefers that we surrender.
Here’s a way to look at it. Peace comes often when we pray, and often times it comes
because Jesus changes the storm, or takes it away. Peace, while it comes from the
King, still has to do with the storm.
Surrender, on the other hand, happens when the storm is still raging. He may lessen it,
or change its course, or maybe he doesn’t move it at all, but the surrender is about you
and Jesus, not the storm.
Believe me, I get it. Surrender sounds awful. But it sounds awful because we
immediately picture in our minds the act of surrendering to whatever it is that represents
the battle we want to keep fighting. But I’m not talking about that, and neither is Jesus.
He wants us to surrender to HIM. Trust HIM in the midst of the storm or battle!! Let HIM
determine who wins our “closest to the hole” playoff—and how that looks!!
I often say, “don’t surrender to the thing, surrender to the KING”. He can be trusted.
You ask, “are you suggesting that I give up fighting when battles come?” Of course not!!
I’m suggesting only one thing here. That if we keep looking for peace in the fight, in the
storm, sometimes we may end up being frustrated, because the KING is looking for
surrender first. And surrendering to Him will ultimately also bring peace.

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