The Restored Heart: Why God Calls Us to Surrender
One of the greatest misconceptions about surrendering to God is that we often think He is asking us to lose ourselves. That is simply not true. From the beginning, sin fractured our relationship with God and distorted the very people He created us to be. Biblical surrender is about restoring the broken parts of who we are through our relationship with the One who created us.
Scripture teaches us the pathway back to the kind of relationship we were created for. A relationship that was broken by sin but made possible again through Christ. It is this relationship with God that ultimately shapes every other relationship in our lives.
This begins at salvation. Jesus makes it clear that no one comes to Him unless the Father draws them (John 6:44). When we stop striving to earn God’s acceptance and instead trust in the finished work of Christ, we are adopted into His family (John 1:12).
Yet, we can see in Scripture that surrender is not a single moment but an ongoing posture that takes our entire lives to be sanctified. As we grow in Christ, there are seasons in the Christian life where God gently exposes another area of our hearts that has yet to be fully entrusted to Him.
I admit this is where surrender often becomes difficult. It is not because God desires less for us, but because He desires more.
The prophet Joel captures this as he faced a nation that had mastered the appearance of repentance.
“Rend your heart and not your garments” (Joel 2:13).
In the past, tearing one’s clothing was an outward expression of grief or repentance. However, God is not interested in outward performances where our hearts remain untouched. He is interested in a heart that has been opened before Him.
The Hebrew word 'rend' means to tear apart or split open. This picture shows us that God desires access to the places we often protect. These are the areas of our lives where pride, fear, shame, bitterness, and control take over.
This is where it becomes significant for biblical mental health.
Much of our emotional suffering can be because we refuse to surrender. Our free will can trick us into believing that we can control any potential threat. We can cling to resentment because forgiveness can feel too risky. We can cling to self-sufficiency because dependence can feel weak. Yet Scripture repeatedly teaches that healing begins not when we become stronger but when we become honest.
One of the foundational virtues of biblical mental health is honesty. And if I’m honest, I'm not always honest with myself for the various reasons mentioned above. Yet, if we seek God’s guidance in our relationships, we must be honest with God.
David understood this after his own failure:
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).
Notice that God did not despise David because of his broken spirit. Instead, he welcomed David’s honest repentance. That means that our brokenness becomes destructive only when it remains hidden by our own will.
We often fail to recognise how our own stubbornness can contribute to the further brokenness of our souls.
J. P. Moreland has often argued that spiritual formation is not simply about acquiring more biblical information but about becoming the kind of person who increasingly lives in reality. Genuine repentance is reality. It is acknowledging who God is, who we are, and where our hearts have wandered. Mental and spiritual health both require living honestly in what is true rather than constructing false narratives that protect our pride.
God’s invitation through Joel is to return honestly.
“Return to Me with all your heart.”
We must know that every relationship is shaped by trust, and when one person begins hiding from another, the relationship can suffer. Since Genesis 3, humanity has become remarkably skilled at hiding. We see this pattern immediately after the Fall. Adam and Eve’s first response to sin was not confession but concealment. They hid.
God calls us into the light because we cannot flourish in hiding.
A. W. Tozer observed that what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. If we view God primarily as one waiting to condemn us, surrender will always feel terrifying. But Joel reminds us why surrender is safe:
“He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
The character of God is what makes repentance possible.
Henry Blackaby often reminded believers that God is always at work and invites us to join Him where He is already moving. Perhaps one of the first places He desires to work is within our own hearts. Before He changes our circumstances, He often reshapes us.
C. S. Lewis described this process as God rebuilding a house. At first we assume He is making small repairs. Then walls begin coming down. Rooms are reconstructed. Entire additions appear. Lewis writes that God is building something quite different than we expected because He intends to live in the house Himself.
That is surrender.
God is not destroying who we are; He is restoring who He created us to be.
Romans 6 calls believers to offer every part of themselves to God. Every area that we surrender can become a place where the Holy Spirit can bring life. Every false attachment released creates room for Christlike character to grow. Paul describes the result this way: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). This is the restoration of our true identity.
Perhaps this is why surrender, though often painful, becomes strangely healing.
The heart that is torn open before God is the very heart He promises to restore.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you… I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
The Christian life is not an outward appearance of being put together. It is a continual return to God that brings every hidden place to the gracious rule of Christ.
May we all bring honesty to our Lord today in prayer.
References:
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. (2001).
