Devotions with Corrie Ten Boom – Complete Surrender

For the next few posts, we are going to do them devotional style! I have this little book called I Stand At The Door And Knock by Corrie Ten Boom. It is filled with short messages that remind me of a devotional. The theme that has been running through my mind lately and in my heart is about surrendering to Yeshua or Jesus.

We can often find it so hard to surrender. Without surrender we miss out on His peace, the peace that surpasses all understanding (Phillipians 4:7), the perfect peace He will give us when our minds are stayed on Him (Isaiah 26:3). We miss out on His joy, “the joy of the Lord is our strength!” (Nehemiah 8:10) Our minds are such bad neighborhoods sometimes, aren’t they? It is easy to get depressed, despondent, emotionally distraught with all we see happening to animals along with all the other injustices happening around us and in the world at large and perhaps in our own lives. It is difficult to keep our minds on the things that are lovely, of good report; on what is true about us when we are in Christ; about the world and about God and all He is doing for us and animals; or on what is noble, whatever is right, or pure, or lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Phillipians 4:8). But He wants us to keep our minds on these things! How do we do that while also standing up to the injustices done to animals and peoples who are marginalized, abused, oppressed?

I do think the answers lies in surrender. Let’s contemplate this as we read these next few posts about surrender; ask God what it would look like to be surrendered to Him completely while also continuing to advocate for those who are treated unjustly.

Complete Surrender, Chapter 9, Page 51

I want to tell you what I learned about complete surrender. At one time surrendering was a great problem for me. Do you know the feeling? I simply didn’t understand what it was and how to do it. I then read a book by Andrew Murray, and it helped me greatly. It was a short book in which he wrote about a number of things, but there were a couple of chapters about complete surrender.

First I had to understand what it meant. So I read 1 Kings 20:1-4. Read it for yourself. Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, took an army consisting of soldiers from as many as thirty-two allied countries and advance to Samaria, the capital of Israel. Then he sent a message to King Ahab. And he said, “your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine” (1 Kings 20:3). Ahab answered, “I and all I have are yours” (1 Kings 20:4). Well, wasn’t that complete surrender?

I have experienced surrender. When many years aog I was Adolf Hitler’s prisoner. I had to surrender completely against my will. I was expected to obey. Ahab said to the conquering Ben-Hadad, “Just as you say, my lord the king. I and all I have are yours” (1 Kings 20:4). That was complete surrender.

And now we are dealing with somebody else. It is God, who is love. He isn’t a dictator. He is a loving Father. There is no end to what He would like to do for us. There is no end to His blessings. Provided we surrender to Him.

I read a story about a little boy who was going to cross a long bridge with his father. A bridge without parapets. The little boy said, “Daddy, I am so frightened, just look at the high waves below us.”

His father said, “Hold my hand, and nothing will happen to you.” The boy laid his hand in his father’s strong hand and his fear left him.

In the evening they had to return. Once again they had to cross that bridge on their own, but it was pitch black. “Daddy, I’m scared again. Can’t you hear the water below us! It’s so dark. You can hear those waved down there.”

The father picked up his little boy in his arms and carried him to the other side, and the little boy fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the next morning in his own bed.

You see, this surrender to God is quite different from Ahab’s to Ben-Hadad. And from my surrender to Adolf Hitler. This is the kind of surrender God expects from us. And He gives you great peace.

As a child I used to enjoy singing, “Safe in Jesus’ arms and safe in Jesus’ heart.” The Lord Jesus did not only die on the cross for your sins and mine, He is alive, and he said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Don’t worry – lay your hand in His hand. You will be safe, even if life today feels like crossing a bridge without parapets over wild rushing water. Jesus is the Conqueror. Entrust yourself to Him.

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:29,30