“I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” – Isaiah 43:6-7 ESV.
As I sat on the floor in the quiet living room, I looked around at everything I owned. All the creature comforts neatly placed where they belonged. As I admired the completeness, I heard God say, “What do you fear losing?” I paused and took inventory of my life; then I heard Him say, “I want you to open your hands again.”
It wasn’t the first time He had told me to loosen my grip. It just didn’t ever seem to be easy.
This time I was being asked to let go of newfound independence. To leave behind the comfort of a house I could afford, a space all to myself. A tidy place where my life felt in control and in order.
I had just readjusted from the previous ‘let go’ request, a ten-year relationship I had put all my hope in. Part of that was letting go of insecurity, hurt, of thinking I could never be loved by anyone else. And now, here I was, full circle again. God was calling me to a place of utter reliance on Him alone, not on something, not on another person, and not on myself.
Why is it that God sees the things hidden inside our clenched fists that He often asks us to open our hands and surrender? And why is it so difficult for us to loosen our grip? Our things, our homes, our relationships, our skills, our understanding. Depicted in the lives of the people of the Bible, we can be like the rich man who was asked to give up all his possessions, like Peter going back to fishing as a livelihood after Jesus dies, or like the Pharisees leaning on their own knowledge of who God was supposed to be. While the list goes on, we’ve read it enough times to see the patterns.
And yet, when He asks us to surrender these things, we are plagued with a fear of letting go. When we choose to open our hands, we are afraid of what we will lose. The things we often hold onto are the things we have planted our identity so firmly in. The thought of uprooting can bring about uncertainty within us. Like a bag that’s been turned upside down and its contents dumped and scattered. Who will I be without this thing?
When Jesus asks us to let go, it’s not always because these things are necessarily bad for us. Instead, he asks because He sees into the places we have held Him out, into our hands and hearts and knows what is taking up space: The things we have given the authority to name us and to take the place of our identity. He knows that we long to be called by name, whether by our own or by something else.
Is it your possessions? I am enough.
Your home? I am safe.
Skills? I am needed.
Knowledge? I am important.
A relationship? I am loved.
God wants to redefine what we have identified with – what we, or what others have renamed us to be. It is up to us to take the first step in faith and choose to let go of our self-proclaimed identities. But He also knows you and formed you, and it is in His power and authority that He sets you free from your false identities. He tells us not to live in fear of what we will lose, knowing that we will gain more than we will ever understand. Either in this lifetime or the next. Isaiah 43 starts with the Lord telling us to ‘Fear not’ for He has redeemed us and called us by name (v.1). Then, in verses 6 and 7, He promises that He will set us free from the things that hold us – the ‘north’ and the ‘south’; definitions, titles, circumstances, distractions – all the things that scatter our hearts away from living out our true identities.
“I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name….” The north and the south, left and right, all the things that pull us in every direction and keep us captive. God speaks and tells these things to set us free from their bondage. To the bondage of skill and striving, God tells it to give us up to Him. To the bondage of codependent relationships and insecurity, God speaks and tells it not to withhold us from Him. Instead, he calls us back and calls us by our true name, His sons and daughters. He calls us to a greater purpose than to be tethered to the things that yearn to take our identity to the ends of the world and away from our true home in Christ.
So What defines you? What are you holding onto? What is holding onto you?
Holy Spirit, what things hold my identity?
I ask in the name of Jesus to help me let them go…
