All I can say about this note is... Oh the dogmatism of a younger, less-informed, less-experienced Nehemiah.
May 2, 2009 FB
When we Christians use the phrase "Let go and let God" it is usually meant that one should stop striving for control and allow God to work. In this short study we are going to look at what God says about letting go in general. Then we will seek to determine if and how the phrase “Let go and let God” is biblically applicable to the Christian life. First we will observe and then interpret based on our observation.
“Let go”
Here are all the verses/passages containing the phrase “Let go” in the NASB:
-1 Kings 20:42 And he said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Because you have LET GO out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.'"
-2 Chronicles 34:11 They in turn gave it to the carpenters and to the builders to buy quarried stone and timber for couplings and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had LET GO to ruin.
-Proverbs 4:13 Take hold of instruction; do not LET GO. Guard her, for she is your life.
-Ecclesiastes 7:16-18 Do not be excessively righteous, and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp one thing, and also not LET GO of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.
-Jeremiah 17:3-4 O mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty, your high places for sin throughout your borders. And you will, even of yourself, LET GO of your inheritance that I gave you; And I will make you serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; for you have kindled a fire in My anger Which will burn forever.
-Acts 22:29 Therefore those who were about to examine him immediately LET GO of him; and the commander also was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had put him in chains.
Observation: What we see from the passages is that letting go has the idea of forgetting, not caring, and releasing. We further observe that letting go of something God has given ends in ruin and can even bring death and the wrath of God upon the one who lets go. Contrary to the phrase “let go and let God,” we see that God wants us to NOT let go of wisdom or instruction and to hold on to sobriety.
Interpretation: “Let go and let God” is not a biblically complete phrase, although it still carries a partially biblical concept. God actually wants us to hold on rather than let go. So now we must determine the correct biblical doctrine of “letting God.”
Now let’s look at two areas of Christian living: (1) Inward character and (2) outward conduct.
1. Inward character. The inward character of a believer has several aspects to it but we will look at two for sake of brevity.
a) Overcoming the flesh. The believer has two natures which are warring against one another: The spirit and the flesh. Many believer’s, like myself, have greatly struggled with giving in to temptation. So if letting go and letting God is not how we overcome the flesh then how do we? Romans 6:11-13 says “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but PRESENT YOURSELVES to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” It is observed that to overcome the flesh we are to present ourselves to God. It has the idea of offering yourself to him instead of offering yourself to the desires of the flesh.
b) Overcoming worry. One of the biggest problems believers face is worry. Worry comes from unbelief. Now if letting go and letting God is not how we are to overcome worry, then how are we to? 1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, CASTING all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.” We see here that we are to believe that God is able to handle our problems and concerns and offer them to him to take care of them. Once again this carries the idea of giving something to God, not leaving it behind.
There is much more that should be said on each point, and there are many other examples that we could look at, but let’s come up with a brief doctrine for cultivating inward character:
Cultivating inward character is to be done by considering ourselves dead to sin but alive to God, then believing that God is able and willing to take care of us, and finally by presenting our problems, our concerns, and ourselves to God.
2. Outward conduct
Outward conduct refers to the believer’s service for God and is actually more applicable to the phrase “let go and let God” but the relation is still not really there. Whether it is service in the church or evangelism, “let go and let God” may be applied at certain places but never fully and completely. We share the word and leave the change up to the individual and God, but always with prayer.
This principle is seen in 2 Corinthians 2:15-17, “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.”
An illustration of this passage would go like this; after a believer presents the gospel to an unsaved person, they must not try to force the unsaved to receive Christ. It is true that the believer must let go of their own effort and let God work in the life of the unsaved to bring about their salvation. However, because the believer should always pray for the unsaved, letting go completely is not actually possible because prayer is a type of offering to God. So by the act of praying the believer is actually offering the situation to God. They are bringing it to God, not letting go.
Another example would be if a believer is serving in the church, their service is done toward other people so that they may please God. But the service is an act of offering ourselves to God for use, not an act of letting go. Now let’s come up with a brief doctrine for this.
To cultivate proper outward conduct toward others the believer must do as much as possible to meet each need in the strength of the Lord but then offer the situation to God if the need is not fully met. All the while the believer must pray for the need, and watch for another opportunity to serve that need again.
To sum up, we should not say "Let go and let God", but something like "Give it to God and let Him."
Finally, Colossians 2:6-7 says “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”
Every aspect of the Christian life must be lived by faith in Christ to keep and bless his word. Remember what Jesus said: “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Nehemiah Ryan © 2009
Here are all the verses/passages containing the phrase “Let go” in the NASB:
-1 Kings 20:42 And he said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Because you have LET GO out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.'"
-2 Chronicles 34:11 They in turn gave it to the carpenters and to the builders to buy quarried stone and timber for couplings and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had LET GO to ruin.
-Proverbs 4:13 Take hold of instruction; do not LET GO. Guard her, for she is your life.
-Ecclesiastes 7:16-18 Do not be excessively righteous, and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp one thing, and also not LET GO of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.
-Jeremiah 17:3-4 O mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty, your high places for sin throughout your borders. And you will, even of yourself, LET GO of your inheritance that I gave you; And I will make you serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; for you have kindled a fire in My anger Which will burn forever.
-Acts 22:29 Therefore those who were about to examine him immediately LET GO of him; and the commander also was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had put him in chains.
Observation: What we see from the passages is that letting go has the idea of forgetting, not caring, and releasing. We further observe that letting go of something God has given ends in ruin and can even bring death and the wrath of God upon the one who lets go. Contrary to the phrase “let go and let God,” we see that God wants us to NOT let go of wisdom or instruction and to hold on to sobriety.
Interpretation: “Let go and let God” is not a biblically complete phrase, although it still carries a partially biblical concept. God actually wants us to hold on rather than let go. So now we must determine the correct biblical doctrine of “letting God.”
Now let’s look at two areas of Christian living: (1) Inward character and (2) outward conduct.
1. Inward character. The inward character of a believer has several aspects to it but we will look at two for sake of brevity.
a) Overcoming the flesh. The believer has two natures which are warring against one another: The spirit and the flesh. Many believer’s, like myself, have greatly struggled with giving in to temptation. So if letting go and letting God is not how we overcome the flesh then how do we? Romans 6:11-13 says “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but PRESENT YOURSELVES to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” It is observed that to overcome the flesh we are to present ourselves to God. It has the idea of offering yourself to him instead of offering yourself to the desires of the flesh.
b) Overcoming worry. One of the biggest problems believers face is worry. Worry comes from unbelief. Now if letting go and letting God is not how we are to overcome worry, then how are we to? 1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, CASTING all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.” We see here that we are to believe that God is able to handle our problems and concerns and offer them to him to take care of them. Once again this carries the idea of giving something to God, not leaving it behind.
There is much more that should be said on each point, and there are many other examples that we could look at, but let’s come up with a brief doctrine for cultivating inward character:
Cultivating inward character is to be done by considering ourselves dead to sin but alive to God, then believing that God is able and willing to take care of us, and finally by presenting our problems, our concerns, and ourselves to God.
2. Outward conduct
Outward conduct refers to the believer’s service for God and is actually more applicable to the phrase “let go and let God” but the relation is still not really there. Whether it is service in the church or evangelism, “let go and let God” may be applied at certain places but never fully and completely. We share the word and leave the change up to the individual and God, but always with prayer.
This principle is seen in 2 Corinthians 2:15-17, “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.”
An illustration of this passage would go like this; after a believer presents the gospel to an unsaved person, they must not try to force the unsaved to receive Christ. It is true that the believer must let go of their own effort and let God work in the life of the unsaved to bring about their salvation. However, because the believer should always pray for the unsaved, letting go completely is not actually possible because prayer is a type of offering to God. So by the act of praying the believer is actually offering the situation to God. They are bringing it to God, not letting go.
Another example would be if a believer is serving in the church, their service is done toward other people so that they may please God. But the service is an act of offering ourselves to God for use, not an act of letting go. Now let’s come up with a brief doctrine for this.
To cultivate proper outward conduct toward others the believer must do as much as possible to meet each need in the strength of the Lord but then offer the situation to God if the need is not fully met. All the while the believer must pray for the need, and watch for another opportunity to serve that need again.
To sum up, we should not say "Let go and let God", but something like "Give it to God and let Him."
Finally, Colossians 2:6-7 says “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”
Every aspect of the Christian life must be lived by faith in Christ to keep and bless his word. Remember what Jesus said: “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Nehemiah Ryan © 2009
ORIGINAL NOTE COMMENTS
Rachel ClippertonVery well put. I'm glad you posted this...it encourages me to know that I'm not the only one who believes that we depend to much on our little sayings and not enough on the Word of God.
James Braden
Is it biblical? That depends on what the speaker means. I first heard it used in the early 70's, when a person was referring to salvation. He intended to say: "Quit trying to get yourself to Heaven and let God save you." That, my young theologian is definitely biblical.
Another use of the phrase is to indicate we should stop carrying a specific burden and let God carry it. In many cases, that is a definitely biblical concept...especially when it comes to people worrying. Worry is sin, because it is a failure to trust God.
We have at least two cases where the phrase is very biblical. Maybe instead of straining at a gnat, we should be better off by asking the person who uses the phrase what he means; then analyze his response. Otherwise, we end up swallowing a camel.
Nehemiah Ryan
Actually, at the same time i checked for 'let go' i also checked the word for 'yield' and it is only found once in Scripture as meaning the same thing that the traffic sign does (Gal 2:5).
I may be wrong but this is what I think. I think when people talk about letting go and yielding they mean to stop trying to do things in your own strength, and this is definitely a biblical concept. However, there is more to it then just submitting your will to allow God to reign. There is also the conscious act of putting our will in line with His. It's not solely allowing something. It's first allowing and then putting our trust in God who is more than able. I hope that clears it up.
A good OT concept is found in Psalm 37: "Commit your way unto the Lord." It's not just letting go or releasing. Its actually giving it or rolling it over to God. Sort of like you put it in God's hands. Maybe that's the phrase we should use: "Put it God's hands"
Also, I have personally found that just letting go does not work, because how then do I know if God is taking care of it or if Satan is? No, for me to have victory over temptation or peace about something, the only thing that actually works is if I give it to God and trust Him.
I guess I just have a major concern with making sure our Christian catch phrases are biblically sound before they become cliche.
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