There’s a video of a first responder in a boat during a flood. The rescuer pulls up next to a telephone pole where a mama raccoon is clinging with all her babies on her back. Normally, raccoons would run from people, but this one can’t go anywhere. The floodwaters are rising, and she has a decision to make. She can hold on to that telephone pole and hope the water recedes before she loses her strength and drowns. Or she can take a risk and jump into the boat.
The raccoon just sits there, looking at the rescuer. She’s scared. She’s freaking out. But eventually, the rescuer grabs one of the babies and puts it in the boat. The mama sees that nothing bad happens, and finally, she jumps in with all her babies. They make it to land. They’re saved.
Sometimes we are like that raccoon. We are hesitant to release our grasp and let go of where we are and what we are doing. We hold on because it makes us feel comfortable. We know what this is. We can control this. It feels familiar. But when we keep fighting God instead of trusting Him, we miss out on so much more.
When we talk about the things of God, living a life that He controls and a life that allows us to live in His purpose, holding on keeps us from the life that God has for us. Although it’s comfortable, although it’s familiar, although it makes us feel like we’re in control, holding on keeps us from living the life that God has for us.
His ways are always better. Psalm 18:30 says, “As for God, His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those who trust in Him.” That’s a scripture worth memorizing.
Jonah Ran, But God Had Other Plans
Jonah was a prophet, and God told him to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were enemies of the Jews. God wanted Jonah to tell them to repent or face destruction. But Jonah didn’t want his enemies to repent. He wanted them wiped out.
So Jonah got on a boat and headed the other direction. He was fighting God and His plan for his life. A massive storm came, and eventually Jonah told the crew to throw him overboard. God sent a sea monster to swallow him up, and Jonah spent three days in the belly of that creature.
Inside that sea monster, surrounded by fish bits and nastiness, Jonah realized he was alive. God had saved him. He prayed, he acknowledged God, and he surrendered. The sea monster vomited him onto dry land, and Jonah finally went to Nineveh.
He preached the message of destruction and repentance, and the people listened. God relented. But the last thing we read about Jonah is that he was frustrated. He went up on a mountain expecting to watch the fireworks, and instead, God showed mercy. The book ends with God asking Jonah, “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh?”
We don’t know if Jonah ever came around. But we do know that Jesus referred to him as a prophet in Matthew 12:39, so perhaps his story turned out differently than those final frustrated verses suggest.
Paul Was Knocked Off His Horse
Paul’s story is different. Before his conversion, he was Saul, breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He got orders from the high priest to go to Damascus, find Christians, arrest them, and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial. He was on fire to do this.
But on the road to Damascus, a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Jesus told him to get up and enter the city, and it would be told to him what he must do. Paul was blind for three days.
Paul thought he was doing the right thing. The Jewish faith was familiar. He felt in control. These new Christians were messing everything up, and he was going to handle it. He was fighting God without even realizing it. But Jesus rocked his world.
After Ananias prayed for him, whatever was on his eyes fell off like scales. He began to see. He got baptized and immediately started preaching. He was so convincing that the Jews who had sent him to arrest Christians were now trying to kill him.
Don’t Make God Go to Extremes
Both Jonah and Paul already knew who God was. That’s the starting point. When God tapped them on the shoulder, they understood who was speaking to them. If you’re reading this, you probably already have a starting point too. The question is, are you holding on to the things you want to hold on to, or are you letting go and letting God show you His purposes?
God had to go to extremes to get Jonah’s attention. He had to get his butt inside of a sea monster to finally listen. Paul was so extreme that Jesus had to knock him off his horse and blind him for three days so that he would stop and shut up and listen a little bit to what Jesus had to say.
Don’t make God go through extremes to get your attention. Spend time with God so that you can hear His voice and be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. That means praying. That means spending time in the Word. That means turning off the influence of the world sometimes and getting outside of your own head and your own feelings.
It’s okay to go to God with your feelings and your hurts and your pain. Give it to Him. Say, God, I don’t like this. I’m mad. I’m angry. This is not cool. They treated me wrong. But God, I’m going to trust You. Stop fighting God and start letting go.
God’s Purpose for Your Life Is Bigger Than Yours
God has a purpose and a plan for your life beyond what you have for yourself. Both Jonah and Paul had bigger purposes than they could see.
Jonah wanted revenge. He wanted the Assyrians wiped out. God wanted to show mercy and grace, and that was much more powerful. God could have sent another prophet, but He wanted Jonah. He had a specific plan for Jonah’s life.
Paul went from arresting and murdering Christians to spreading faith to the whole Gentile world. He was responsible for the first Christian martyr, Stephen. Imagine living with that weight. But when he surrendered, when he stopped fighting God and started letting go, God used him to influence the world for Jesus. That’s not an exaggeration. He wrote two-thirds of the New Testament. Lives were transformed then, and lives continue to be transformed today because of what Paul wrote.
If you don’t surrender to God, if you don’t let go of those things keeping you from His purpose, you won’t live to the fullest of what He has for you. And that’s a shame, because God always has great things for us. God’s plan for your life is always better than your own plans.
A Story About Letting Go
There was a teacher who had been at a school for many years, starting right out of college. All that time, she taught kindergarten. Families in the neighborhood knew her. Everybody loved her. Parents requested her.
Then one year, changes came, and she was moved to first grade. When she found out, she completely lost it. She freaked out so loudly that everyone in the school heard. It was a scene.
But she didn’t transfer. She didn’t retire. She moved up to first grade. Nine weeks into that next year, she came back and said, “Oh my gosh, this was the best move ever. I should have done this years ago. Thank you so much for moving me.”
Sometimes when we eventually let go, we don’t realize that what others see would be better for us. God sees that way. He looks down and says, if you decide to live this way, it’s going to be so much better for you. God’s way is perfect. He has a purpose and a plan beyond what you can imagine, but you have to let go and surrender. You have to stop fighting God.
How You End Matters
How you end is so much more important than how you start. Acts 13:36 says, “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his fathers.”
David wasn’t perfect. He committed adultery with Bathsheba. He lied and had one of his own officers murdered. He disobeyed God and did a census that resulted in many deaths. But the way he ended, the way Scripture describes his life, is that he served the purposes of God.
Wouldn’t that be a great thing for people to say about you? That you served God’s purpose in your generation?
We know how Paul ended. In 2 Timothy 4:6-8, he wrote, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
What a great ending. What a great example of someone who was living life under his own control, holding on for dear life, fighting God, thinking he was right, but then letting go and fulfilling God’s purpose for his life.
Your Next Step
This week, spend time with Jesus and ask Him if there’s anything you need to let go of. Ask Him, God, is there anything I’m holding on to that’s hindering me from walking in the full purpose and plan You have for my life? And then ask Him to help you walk in that purpose. Ask Him for the strength, and He will give it to you.
Don’t make God go through extremes to get your attention. Put yourself in a position where you can listen to Him. Listen and adjust your life, because God’s plan for your life is so much better and His purpose is so much better than you can possibly imagine.
When we live a life surrendered to God, when we let go, it’s not just about living with purpose for us. It goes beyond that. Like Paul, it influences the kingdom of God. You can influence the kingdom of God by living according to God’s purpose for your life.
Let go. Stop fighting God. Jump into the boat. His ways are always better.
Peace,
Todd