Have you ever wondered what makes some of us victims and some of us victors in the circumstances and trials of life? This is a question that has been rolling around in my mind and in my discussions with the Lord over the past few months. When life gets hard and things are not going the way we thought they would (or should) go, what is it that makes some come out behaving like the victim while some emerge from their trial victoriously?
As I have pondered this, several questions kept coming to my mind: Does it depend on who we turn to for advice? Does it depend on what we decide to think on, dwell on and/or believe on? If when we hurt we turn to family and/or friends first to help us answer ‘why’ some things are happening to us, what answers do we tend to get – opinions? Or biblical truth? If we turn to the Lord and what the Word says first is our outcome more likely to be that of walking in victory? Is it just this or is there something more?
I have come to believe that to live amongst our circumstances as a victor and not a victim that there are two key qualities that should prevail in the victor’s life ~ responsibility and surrender. Neither of which are big in our world.
In every circumstance in life, we all have a choice; and what we choose is what we are held responsible for before the Lord one day. Now, there may be something happening in our life that is beyond your control, but where responsibility lies is in how you are responding to it. Victory lies in knowing what we ourselves are responsible for. This is why having the Lord search our hearts daily is so key. He needs to show us what we might need to confess and agree with Him on. Many times our natural inkling is to shift blame; and many times our friends can help feed our flesh and jump on our ‘bandwagon of blame’ with us. This I believe, unfortunately, puts us in the role of victim.
The other quality is surrender. Many times I hear this phrase ~ ‘I have to just let it go’. I believe there is more to it than that. Surrender, the way God wants it, is not just about letting go. In thinking about that phrase, ‘let go’, my thoughts went to what it is like when a balloon is ‘let go’. It floats up in the air and gets farther and farther out of our reach; but have you ever wondered ~ ‘where will it go? What is going to happen to it? Will anyone else see it? Will it land somewhere else someday?’ You may have ‘let it go’ but you don’t really know what happened to it.
Now, what about ‘surrender’? The word actually means ~ the action of yielding one’s person or giving up the possession of something into the power of another. This suggests to me that a decisive choice is made to give up what one has been holding on to, claiming or demanding and putting themselves into the hands of another.
To be victorious through whatever circumstances we are living in, we need to decide irrevocably to let God control our lives and our situation. Hannah Whitall Smith ( 1916, p. 80) says it this way ~ “Give yourself to the Lord definitely and fully, according to your present light, asking the Holy Spirit to show you all that is contrary to Him, either in your heart or life. If He shows you anything, give it to the Lord immediately, and say in reference to it, ‘Thy will be done.”
When we surrender our present situation to the Lord ~ to His power and control ~ we can know that victory is ours because we will bring Him glory (Is. 43.7), we will be conform to Christ’s likeness (Rms. 8.28-29), the present burden will be easier (Mat. 11.29-30), and because He tells us He will do ‘immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Eph. 3.20). This and so much more happens when we accept what we are responsible for and when we actively, decisive and fully surrender our selves and our circumstances first to Him. We will walk, not as victims, but as victors!
