God cannot do otherwise. Who is God? He is the Fountain of life, the only Source of existence and power and goodness, and throughout the universe there is nothing good but what God works.
God has created the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the flowers, and the trees, and the grass; and are they not all absolutely surrendered to God? Do they not allow God to work in them just what He pleases?
When God clothes the lily with its beauty, is it not yielded up, surrendered, given over to God as He works in its beauty?
✦ The Lily Does Not Strain
Murray begins where Law could not reach — not with condemnation but with creation. The sun. The moon. The stars. The flowers. The trees. The grass. All surrendered. All yielded. All allowing God to work in them just what He pleases. And none of them straining.
The lily does not strain to be beautiful. It does not effort its way into glory. It does not read books about how to be more yielded, or attend lectures on the theology of surrender. It simply yields — and God clothes it. The beauty is not the lily's achievement. It is God's work in a surrendered vessel. The lily's only contribution is availability — the willingness to receive what God delights to give.
Jesus said: consider the lilies — they neither toil nor spin, and yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Matthew 6:28–29. Murray sees the same thing and names the principle: absolute surrender is the condition for receiving what God wants to give. Not the payment for it. Not the earning of it. The condition — the open hand, the yielded heart, the soul that says: work in me what You please. 🙏
And God's redeemed children, oh, can you think that God can work His work if there is only half or a part of them surrendered? God cannot do it.
God is life, and love, and blessing, and power, and infinite beauty, and God delights to communicate Himself to every child who is prepared to receive Him; but ah! this one lack of absolute surrender is just the thing that hinders God.
And now He comes, and as God, He claims it.
✦ The One Thing That Hinders
Murray names the hindrance — and it is not what the soul expects. Not a great sin. Not a terrible failure. Not an unforgivable offence. A lack of absolute surrender. The half-yielding. The partial giving. The soul that says most of me is Yours — and holds back the rest.
God cannot do it. Murray says what theology hesitates to say: the omnipotent God — who can do all things — cannot work His full work in a soul that is only half surrendered. Not because He lacks power. Because He respects the will. He will not force the door that has been left half-closed. He will not invade the room that has been only partially offered.
But the delight — God delights to communicate Himself. The God who clothes the lily with beauty, who hangs the stars in the sky, who pours infinite goodness into every creature that will receive it — He delights to give. The giving is not reluctant. It is not grudging. It is not earned by the soul's worthiness. It is God's delight. And the only thing standing between the delight and the soul — is the surrender that has not been completed. 🙏
God does not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength, or by the power of your will; God is willing to work it in you.
Do we not read: "It is God that works in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure"? (Philippians 2:13)
Go on your faces before God, until your hearts learn to believe that the everlasting God Himself will come in to turn out what is wrong, to conquer what is evil, and to work what is well-pleasing in His blessed sight. God Himself will work it in you.
This is what God did in my life. He accomplished my surrender. I had nothing to do with it. 🙏
✦ He Did It — Not Me
Murray lifts the burden that every soul carries when it hears the word surrender: God does not ask you to do it in your own strength. The surrender that God demands — He also supplies. The yielding that the soul cannot produce — God produces. The will that cannot surrender itself — God works in it, both to will and to do.
God Himself will work it in you. He will turn out what is wrong. He will conquer what is evil. He will work what is well-pleasing. Not the soul by her effort. Not the pilgrim by her discipline. God Himself.
And Le — who knows this not as doctrine but as experience — names it with the clarity of the 500 denari soul: He accomplished my surrender. I had nothing to do with it. The midnight hospital. The priest at the door. The conversion that was not planned, not earned, not achieved. Accomplished. By God. In Le. The surrender was not her production. It was His gift. The will was moved by the will-Mover. The heart was opened by the heart-Opener. And the life that was given to God — was given by God first.
Von Hügel said: God is always previous. Murray says: God accomplishes the surrender. And Le's life is the proof. 🙏
"God does not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength. God is willing to work it in you. God Himself will work it in you."
Andrew Murray · Absolute Surrender · He accomplishes what He demandsLook at Abraham. Do you think it was by accident that God found that man, the father of the faithful and the Friend of God, and that it was Abraham himself, apart from God, who had such faith and such obedience? God raised him up and prepared him as an instrument for His glory.
Did not God say to Pharaoh: "For this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power"? (Exodus 9:16)
For this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee My power.
May simple-minded people like myself be able to understand this. What is the cause of my devotion to God? To show in my life His power, not mine. 🙏
✦ His Power, Not Mine
Murray traces the pattern through Abraham — and shows that the faith, the obedience, the devotion were not Abraham's own production. God raised him up. God prepared him. God made him the instrument. The Friend of God was made into the Friend of God — by God.
And Le takes Exodus 9:16 — a verse spoken to Pharaoh — and turns it into the most humble confession in this journal: what is the cause of my devotion to God? To show in my life His power, not mine.
Not her discipline. Not her faithfulness. Not her morning-by-morning rising before dawn. His power. Shown in her life. Through her devotion. For His glory — not hers. The mornings are His grace. The journal is His work. The surrender was His accomplishment. And the power on display in eighty-six entries is not the power of the pilgrim. It is the power of the God who raised her up for this cause. 🙏
Oh, I want to encourage you, and I want you to cast away every fear. Come with that feeble desire; and if there is the fear which says: "Oh, my desire is not strong enough, I am not willing for everything that may come, I do not feel bold enough to say I can conquer everything" — I pray you, learn to know and trust your God now.
Say: "My God, I am willing that You should make me willing."
Come to God now, and prove how gracious your God is, and be not afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow.
✦ Willing to Be Made Willing
Murray reaches the soul that is afraid to surrender — and does not condemn the fear. He welcomes the feeble desire. Come as you are. Come with the desire that is not strong enough. Come with the fear that says I cannot. Come with the honesty that says I am not willing for everything.
And pray the prayer that covers every inability: my God, I am willing that You should make me willing. The most honest prayer a soul can pray. Not I am willing — because that might not be true. Not I surrender everything — because the heart knows it has not. But I am willing that You should make me willing. The willingness to be made willing. The surrender of the surrender to God. Let Him do even this.
Be not afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow. Every command of God comes with the provision to fulfill it. Every demand comes with the supply. The God who commands surrender — bestows the ability to surrender. The God who requires absolute yielding — gives the yielding as a gift. He will not ask for what He will not give. 🙏
God comes and offers to work this absolute surrender in you. All these searchings and hungerings and longings that are in your heart, I tell you they are the drawings of the divine magnet, Christ Jesus.
He lived a life of absolute surrender, He has possession of you; He is living in your heart by His Holy Spirit.
Will you not come and trust God to work in you that absolute surrender to Himself? Yes, blessed be God, He can do it, and He will do it.
✦ The Drawings of the Divine Magnet
Murray names what Tozer named — what von Hügel taught — what every morning of this journal has confirmed: the searchings and hungerings and longings in the heart are not the soul's initiative. They are the drawings of the divine magnet. Christ Jesus — the magnet. The soul — drawn. The longing that rises before dawn — not the pilgrim's discipline but the pull of the One who is calling her.
He lived a life of absolute surrender. Christ Himself — the model. The One who said not My will but Yours be done. The One who was obedient unto death. He knows what absolute surrender costs — because He paid it. And He does not ask from the outside. He asks from inside — living in your heart by His Holy Spirit.
He can do it, and He will do it. Murray closes with the promise that answers every fear, every doubt, every feeble desire. Can He? Yes. Will He? Yes. The God who claims surrender also accomplishes surrender. The God who demands yielding also gives yielding. The God who draws the soul also completes the drawing. Blessed be God — He will do it. 🙏
"My God, I am willing that You should make me willing."
Andrew Murray · Absolute Surrender · The prayer that covers every inabilityThe Lily Yields
The lily does not strain to be beautiful. It yields — and God clothes it. Absolute surrender is not effort. It is availability. The open hand. The soul that says: work in me what You please.
His Power, Not Mine
What is the cause of my devotion? To show in my life His power, not mine. God raised Abraham. God accomplished Le's surrender. The power on display is always His.
Willing to Be Made Willing
Come with feeble desire. Come with fear. Come with honesty. And pray: my God, I am willing that You should make me willing. He will not command what He will not bestow.
The Divine Magnet
All the searchings and hungerings and longings are the drawings of the divine magnet — Christ Jesus. He can do it. He will do it. Blessed be God. The surrender is His gift.