Surrender to the Lord... An Invitation

I recently started working as a music teacher at a local middle school. Most of my students do not want to be in school and give me grief about making them work. They are quick to mock and question my directions because they are honest with how they feel. Understanding this, when they give me a compliment, I know it is sincere. 

The other day I sang the song we were rehearsing to model how I wanted my students to project their own voices and not be timid while singing. I was taken back when, in unison, my entire class started clapping heartily as I concluded my ‘solo’. It is this experience, among others (like a student mentioning more peace at home when singing the Christmas song stuck in her head from rehearsal), that remind me of the power of good, wholesome music.

Many people feel there is no hope left in the world and that man is no longer inspired. They come to this conclusion as they look around and see all the wrong taking place. While it’s true that many mainstream and popular music glamorize the spiritual deadness that is rampant in the world, there are still gems of wisdom throughout popular music that show a spiritual insight into those inspired to write what was in their hearts.

Moroni 7:12 – Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God.

This includes good music and good lyrics. Inspiring messages that encourage others to do better, are directly from the Lord to bless His children through those who have the means to share the messages.

I like to be active and in the process, I often listen to fast-paced music. While heavy metal or rock music is stereotypically listened to at gyms or during a workout, I’ve found that dance or house music is what gets my juices flowing. The dance song ‘Surrender’ by Cash Cash, in my opinion, has a great beat and is a fun listen. Each time I pay attention to the lyrics, I get emotional because I feel like the Lord is talking to me through them:

First Verse:

I was running on an empty heart

Not a trace of gasoline

Trying to dim every single spark

That could hurt, that could burn all of me

Like a soldier on a battle ground

Lying wounded on the field

I was fighting along with the broken sword

Now I'm caught in a war with no shield

Sometimes I, too, feel like I am fighting a battle with a broken sword and no shield, so this verse really hits home for me. But it really comes full circle in the second verse with these lines:

'Cause I made myself a prisoner

Shackled up by all my fears

I think it takes a lot of necessary humility to accept that we often imprison ourselves. Not only by fear, but also by the guilt and remorse we feel for our mistakes or simply not following the Lord’s commandments fully. The following scripture reminds me that in this state of captivity, we can never find happiness.

2 Nephi 1:13 – O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe.

The good news, though, is that through Christ, we can release ourselves from those chains.

Alma 7:12 – And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

It is not a coincidence that the lyrics to this song parallel the prophetic scriptures I just shared. I don’t know if the lyricist is Christian or studies the word of God, but I do know that whoever it was that wrote those lines was inspired. He or she might not have been thinking of the Savior, Jesus Christ, when writing the following lines but I sure do:

But I feel you breaking away, out the walls

Make them fall, make them all disappear

And from that perspective, the chorus becomes very precious and spiritually meaningful to me:

If you hold me now

And leave me never

Say you'll stay with me forever

Then I surrender, surrender

We can’t find happiness and overcome life’s difficulties on our own. We weren’t meant to. When we lack sufficient humility, we inevitably shackle ourselves in the gulf of misery and distance ourselves from the only one who can and will hold us always and leave us never.

My invitation at the beginning of this new year; surrender to the Lord.