Surrender, Trust, and the Unchanging Character of God

Relationships

May 25, 2018

Kaci Nicole

Much love,

  1. Brian Goodell says:

    Kaci, what a beautiful piece and so timely for me. Thank you for writing this and saying those hard & true things. They’re just what the soul needs to hear. My favorite quote:

    May 25
    Surrender, Trust, and the Unchanging Character of God
    Surrender, Trust, and the Unchanging Character of God | Kaci Nicole.jpg
    Have you ever come across a Bible verse you’ve read a hundred times, and all of a sudden—maybe because of some situation you’re in—it comes alive to you in a whole new way? You question if you even understood what it meant before?

    18th century theologian Jonathan Edwards is famous for his analogy on honey, in which he essentially says, “I can show you honey and you can admire its golden hue. I can tell you it’s sweet—and you can believe me when I tell you it’s sweet. But unless you have tasted it, you don’t truly know it’s sweet. You only truly know honey is sweet when you have tasted it.”

    The heart of what he’s saying is that we can hear truths about God all day long, but until God makes those truths real to us by the power of His Spirit, we don’t truly know them. God has to move our knowledge of Him from head knowledge to heart knowledge—from conceptual, to experiential.

    I have a special fondness for the story of the Israelites in the Bible—it’s one of my favorites. It seems that in each new season God walks me through, He unveils a new subtlety in their story to speak to me through.

    I recently read through a portion of the Israelites’ story that unfolds in Deuteronomy, as God is preparing to bring them into the Promised Land after a 40-year journey through the wilderness. Leading up to this, God has already done so much. He has miraculously delivered them from slavery in Egypt through the ten plagues. He has parted the Red Sea and allowed them to walk through on dry ground. He has provided for them with manna—bread from Heaven. He has guided each step of their journey with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

    Finally, after all their wandering and waiting, God brings the Israelites to the Promised Land and says He will give it to them. The land is inhabited, but God tells them He will fight for them, that the victory will be theirs. They even get to taste fruit from the land when they send spies in to survey it, and upon tasting it they exclaim, “It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us” (Deuteronomy 1:25). You can almost sense their realization—like, wow, God really has been FOR us all along. What he has for us—what we’ve been waiting for—is GOOD.

    Up until this point, the Promised Land is nothing more than a nice concept. I’m sure they wanted to believe what God had for them was good, but they had no frame of reference for it—all they could see was the barrenness of the wilderness. I wouldn’t be surprised if they wondered whether the wait would truly be worth it—or if they’d end up finding themselves with second best.

    But then they get a taste, and the taste of the Promise gives them a taste of their God—One who is able to do immeasurably more than anything they could have thought to ask for or imagine.

    The Israelites have been given every reason to believe in the God of the Promise—and this is their opportunity to. But instead, they start to focus on the inhabitants of the land. They see that they’re “bigger and taller” than they are—literally giants—and their hearts melt in fear. They don’t see how it could possibly work out in their favor. They exclaim, “God hates us, He brought us out of Egypt to destroy us!” (1:27).

    Reading their story it’s like, SERIOUSLY GUYS?!

    But things tend to be clearer when we’re looking at other people’s stories, right?

    When we’re zoomed in on the circumstances in front of us, we’re filled with fear and think we’re doomed to fail. But if we zoom out on the metanarrative our circumstances are situated in, we’d have to be CRAZY to believe God brought us this far only to fail us now—that’s not who He is.

    "God is not a tease. He doesn’t dangle fruit from the land in front of us only to snatch it away and give us something less than instead. He WILL fulfill His promises to us. What He has for us IS good—whatever it may be and however and whenever it may come about."

    xx

  2. Brian Goodell says:

    Whoops, that was me and I was logged into another Squarespace account…so sorry! I don’t know why it copied and pasted that whole section 🙁 Here is my favorite quote: "God is not a tease. He doesn’t dangle fruit from the land in front of us only to snatch it away and give us something less than instead. He WILL fulfill His promises to us. What He has for us IS good—whatever it may be and however and whenever it may come about." xx Tori

    • Kaci Nicole says:

      Ah Tori it makes me so glad to hear this was timely for you because it is definitely timely for me too. Thankful God reveals Himself and speaks what we need to hear! That quote is one I’m hanging onto too. Thanks for reading!

  3. Diego says:

    You communicated the message really well, the heart knowledge that God is indeed Good and Faithful.

    Reminds me of the passage in Isaiah 43 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you…. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior……Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you,”.

    • Kaci Nicole says:

      Amen! He is SO good and SO faithful – and thank you for your encouragement, Diego! Also, I love love love that passage!

  4. Mariah says:

    It’s so true! The hard places and the things I thought I wouldn’t be able to overcome have been the biggest learning points of my life. They have revealed so much more about myself and about God’s character to me. And they have brought me now to the point of so much more trust in the Lord! You worded this so beautifully!

    http://moosmusing.com

    • Kaci Nicole says:

      It’s so true! Definitely not always fun in the moment but in hindsight, you can see how God was using those things for so much good. Thanks so much for reading and for your kind words, Mariah!

  5. Roxanne says:

    Great post girly.

  6. Mark says:

    Great message!

    I got saved when I was a kid. But, I never really surrendered my life to God until I was at my lowest point in life, a few years back. I broke down and cried to God, surrendered all that I am, all that I have, everything.

    I just want to give God all the praise and glory. He is always faithful and His grace is sufficient. Following my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is living a truly fulfilling life.

    • Kaci Nicole says:

      It seems to be such a common theme that we don’t surrender until we hit those low points – I know that’s certainly been the case for me plenty of times too. Amen to what you said! Obedience to Him is the best life we can live. Thanks for reading this post!

      • Mark says:

        Exactly! These journeys through the valley were hard but I found growth in these experiences and developed a deeper trust in Him. My faith and character got stronger.

        Today, I’m enjoying the view from the mountaintop and no fear of going down through the valleys again. Thanks for the response! I hope I can have a godly friend like you in my journey

  7. Alexa says:

    Such a great read! I definitely needed that reminder that God is always faithful. Sometimes, like the Israelites, I too wonder if God is working in my favor.

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