Appomattox Appointment
Psalm 46:10 (KJV) says "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."
The Battle of Bull Run was the first major battle of the American Civil War. (There would end up being two battles fought at Bull Run most references are to the first one.) A man named Wilmer Mcean lived close to Manassas where the Battle was fought, in fact shortly after the battle he bought part of the battlefield from the Carter family. Later he decided he wanted to settle somewhere more peaceful so he moved a hundred miles South to Appomattox County.
Several years after moving there, in April of 1865, a Confederate messenger completely unaware of McLean’s prior ‘involvement’ in the war, knocked on the door of McLean’s new home and asked if Robert E. Lee might use the house on the following day to meet with Ulysses Grant and sign a formal surrender. McLean reluctantly agreed. Some time later, Wilmer McLean is supposed to have said, ‘The war began in my front yard, and ended in my front parlor.’"
Like Wilmer Mclean, who tried to escape the Civil War by moving away from the first battle, we often try to run away from God and the areas of our life where we struggle to surrender control to Him. We put up a fight, resisting His will and trying to do things our own way. But just as the war followed Mclean to his new home, God patiently pursues us in our running. He desires that we stop fighting and know the peace and rest that come with surrender.
No matter how far we run, we cannot escape the Lord who wants to free us from the heavy burdens of our sin and self-rule. Like Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses Grant in Mclean's parlor, we must surrender our prideful hearts to our loving Father. When we stop struggling and let God take His rightful place on the throne of our lives, we will find the comfort and freedom we have been searching for all along. He is waiting with open arms to welcome us home.
The battle rages on only if we continue waging war in those areas God wants to rule. But when we wave the white flag and submit to the King of Kings, the struggle ceases. We can be still in His presence and know the peace and purpose that come with full surrender.
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