We have beautiful old trees in our yard – Maple, Poplar, Oak. Spring is full of promise with the buds starting to emerge, summer provide a canopy of shade, and fall gives us color – red, yellow, orange! But autumn also reminds me that those leaves will soon be falling and our trees will be bare. The seasons come and go and when it is time, the trees have to let go.
I am perhaps even more aware of the season of letting go now as I write about seeking direction. As I stand in church and sing, “Wherever He leads I’ll go” I picture all of the wonderful adventures to which He will guide me, but I rarely picture the surrender that is necessary. In our current venture, Jerry and I are learning this more and more as we feel called to downsize – our stuff, our commitments, and our financial obligations – to “get ready.”
But letting go is hard! Even when we want change, even when we don’t like our current circumstances, letting go is counterintuitive. We tend to cling to what we know and what we understand. God often calls us to let go before we know what He has in store for us next – He asks for our trust and our obedience.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
God calls us to let go of the past.
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:18-19
Why is it that we don’t want to let go of the past? We hang on to the memories and things that could have been like our lives depend on it. But our lives truly depend on letting go and letting God do a new thing! Ask God what He would have you let go of from before and let your eyes look instead to the future and the hope He has for you.
God calls us to let go of the worries.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Philippians 4:6
The opposite of worry is trusting God. When we hold onto our worries, we are claiming that we don’t believe He is able and that He will do good. The Bible tells us that He will do more than we can imagine, but somehow we still believe that it is all up to us. Often it seems that God waits for us to let go of our worries before He shows us just how mighty He is!
God calls us to let go of our sin.
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”
Ephesians 4:31
Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that the responsibility of letting go of your sin rests solely on you. This verse says, “Let it be put away from you.” This is a passive verb and it implies that someone else – God – will remove the sin and put it away from you. But the job you have is to “Let it.” Let it go. Simply open your heart and open your hands and release it to God. Ask Him for forgiveness and ask Him to take it. Let go. It is a process and I find it happens in layers for me – but God blesses us in the midst of it all.
God calls us to let go of our activities.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. “
John15:1-2
God calls us to let go of our treasures.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21
Why does God care so much about our treasure? We have only to read the last line of this passage to understand – it’s all about our hearts. God wants our hearts to be with Him and He loves us too much to let us bury it with useless treasure. If your treasure is money, or things, or even people – let go. That doesn’t necessarily mean you will lose those things, sometimes God just wants us to see that our treasure doesn’t have to hold us. A heart that is not tied to earthly things is one that can go anywhere God directs.
Letting go can be scary. Looking down at the pile of bright beautiful leaves beneath our feet can make us want to scoop them all up and hang them up again. But remember, those leaves will be dry and crunchy soon – withered and dead. We need only to trust that Spring will soon come and new buds will emerge.
Let go and wait! See what the Lord will do!
“See, the former things have taken place,
and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
I announce them to you.”Isaiah 42:9