My immediate reaction was astonishment.
I was watching a replay of a sermon online. The message was fantastic and the speaker even had a couple props. His message topic was about fighting; letting God fight our battles. One of the analogies was a story from Rocky IV. He told a scene in the movie when the manager had the ability to “throw in the towel” when things got too rough. Then the fighter could just walk away, while he was still alive. But in the case of the movie, the fighter let his pride overrule reason and he died in the ring.
Sometimes we let pride keep us in a lethal fight, when we should just suck it up and throw in the towel, trusting God for the outcome. The speaker’s final “act” was to take a towel that he was holding, ball it up, and throw it away. This symbolized us “throwing in the towel” and surrendering our fight to God. Then we can lean back against the ropes and let God fight for us.
Great point, right? And such a fitting illustration.
But what happened next on my computer screen killed the moment. As soon as the towel landed, a lady sitting nearby picked up the towel, and brushed it off, and set it on her lap. My immediate reaction was shock & outrage. I wondered how this lady could just disrupt the mood by her action. It seemed to me that she was more concerned about the towel than the message.
My second reaction was understanding.
This is exactly what we do at times. Way too often than we should. We finally get the courage to let go. Then we start to second guess ourselves, still clinging to our issues emotionally. So, we chase after our stuff and pick it up again. We brush it off and settle it comfortably on our laps, almost as though the letting go part never happened. We kill the moment.
This incident was a great reminder for me to let go–with both hands. Let go and leave it there. Stop trying to chase after the stuff. Stop trying to coach God on how to handle my battle. He’s the only One who can see the end from the beginning. I do not have such oversight.
Let it all go.