(Excerpted from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing: The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 9)
" 'The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message: Alter your course 10 degrees south! Promptly a return message was received: Alter your course 10 degrees north! The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message: Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am the captain! Soon another message was received: Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am seaman third class Jones. Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear he would evoke: Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am a battleship! Then the reply came: Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am a lighthouse.
In the midst of our dark and foggy times, all sorts of voices are shouting orders into the night, telling us what to do how to adjust our lives. Out of the darkness, one voice signals something quite the opposite to the rest--something almost absurd. But the voice happens to be the Light of the World, and we ignore it at our peril.' (quoted from Paul Aiello Jr. at www.sermonillustrations.com)
Surrendering to the voice of God is the call of and command to every believer, and it is vital to the process of our spiritual growth. But we all seem to have trouble bending to the higher authority. We so desperately want to remain in control of our lives, struggling with the concept of surrender and submission to anyone, let alone God. We much prefer, with booming voice, to tell God what we will and won't do, and why, often expecting Him to be the one to alter His course for us."
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