Does the Bible really tell us to be “dumb-like”?  Well, it looks as though it does in Exodus 14:14: “The Lord will fight for you, you need to only be still” (NIV).

At first you may think nothing out of the ordinary concerning this verse.  It simply shows that God desires to fight for you, provide for you, and to take care of you so that all you need to do is to be still and let Him.  This goes with a saying that I enjoy: “When you work, God rests; when you rest, God works”.  For the provisions, abundance and protection of God’s resources to be in your life you need to allow Him to place them in your life.  It requires us to stop trying to do “life” by our own strength which includes making our own decisions based off of our own knowledge because we think we know what is best.

But who knows best?  Do we?  Do we think we know what is best for us because of what the world has ingrained into us of what will give us joy and fulfillment?  Or because of what the world tells us is needed to be “successful”?  Or does God, who is not only the creator of life but who created us intimately knowing what is best for us based on our individual and specific design?  It is clear God has a purpose for our life according to the way He created us.  That is the magnitude of His love for us.

Jeremiah 29:11(NIV):For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Psalm 139:16(NIV):Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

In order to let God give us His abundance, provisions, protection and fulfillment, we need to understand that His purpose for our life is what we need to strive for and we need to let Him do it for us.  This is surrendering our life to Him, our desire, and our will…..to Him because we believe that He is a loving God and has a plan for our lives that will give us a greater fulfillment than any other plan we could conceive.

All we need to do is be still, like Exodus 14:14 says.  But how still is still?  The Hebrew translation for being still is “charash” and literally means to be dumb, silent, speechless and deaf.  Obviously the “dumb” stood out to me.  Why would God call us to be “dumb-like”?

Then it hit me.  My wife likes to interior design.  When it comes to interior design, I literally let her have complete and utter control because I do not have a clue what is going on.  When we start talking about it, my eyes gloss over, I get headaches, my back starts hurting, I mean I cannot hear a word she is saying.  I see her mouth moving but nothing is registering.  By interior design standards, I am dumb to the point where I am silent, speechless and deaf because I have no knowledge to understand or contribute.  I surrendered to my wife while interior designing.

To me, this “dumb-like” surrender is the magnitude of control that God desires us to give Him in Exodus 14:14.  This is the level of faith and belief He desires us to have in Him.  This is how still He wants us to be because this is how great His love is for us that He will fight our battles for us, He will make the difficult decisions for us in our life.  He wants perfection for us, He wants to work the details out for us, He wants us to be in His rest living a life of peace and abundance void of any worry, fear, or stress because He loves us so much that He desires to participate in every detail of our life.

When we give Him control of our lives He takes His control of the details in our lives and directs us into His purpose, resources, and protection where we will have a supernatural fullness of Joy and completion because we are in His perfect will; we are being obedient to Him.

So, what is the magnitude of your surrender to Him?  Is it “dumb-like”?