Abandoning everything to follow God’s call
is what we are looking at this month as we study Charles Foucauld’s Prayer of
Abandonment. We’ve seen that “Abandon” means giving up control and also gaining
freedom from restrictions.
Foucauld goes on to pray “Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready
for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all Your
creatures -I wish no more than this, O Lord.” It is not easy to say ‘I
abandon myself to your will’ but over and over in the Bible, we see men and
women being changed and transforming their world because they were willing to
do so.
That takes a lot of courage because when we
abandon ourselves to God we don’t know what will really happen. There are no
guarantees of a happy ending. In fact Paul’s recitation of the heroes of faith
(Hebrews 11) makes it clear that too often saying ‘yes’ to God means a
challenge to living a ‘normal’ life. He says, “Others were
tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.
Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They
were stoned to death, they were sawn in two,
they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats,
destitute, persecuted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They
wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.”
(Hebrews 11:36-38).
But-and this is the big
thing-those who abandoned themselves to God also, “conquered kingdoms,
administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched
raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness,
became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” (Hebrews 11:33-34)
Foucauld says, “Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready
for all, I accept all.” The total abandonment of self to God is a joyful
thing despite the struggles because “God had provided something
better.” As Mr. Beaver tells the children, "Aslan is not a tame lion...but he is good."
Paul goes on to encourage the
early church, and us, to “lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so
closely, and let us run with perseverance the
race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our
faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2) Climb out of the box that keeps you captive and accept
the Call of God to be free.
Foucauld calls us to give thanks
for the chance to Abandon all to God: “Father, I abandon myself into your
hands do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let
only your will be done in me, and in all Your creatures -I wish no more than
this, O Lord.”
As Paul says, “we are receiving
a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God
an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming
fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)
Even though “God is a consuming
fire,” the cost is worth the risk of Abandoning self to God. That is why we can
give thanks for the challenges and rewards that will come when I can let go of
my agenda and Abandon myself to God. There may be trepidation in my
heart, but the alternative is to remain bound and enslaved by the boxes I put
myself into.
Can you Abandon yourself to God? Next time
we’ll see the result of abandoning ourselves is Love.
