He knows our need, to our weaknesses no stranger, Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend! (“O Holy Night”).

Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).

Weary gets us to the fork in the road.

From one direction despair beckons. From the other direction desperate striving beckons.

Weary requires that we stop. We have to stop. We’re too weary to go on.

Then, barely managing to look up, we realize Wisdom stands at the fork in the road.   

Wisdom insists that we face our situation for what it is. No more ignoring it. No more pretending it isn’t so bad. No more fooling ourselves that we can fix it.

Wisdom also requires that we consider our options. Where does despair lead, after all? Where does desperate striving get us? 

Then Wisdom whispers that it is time to surrender.

“Surrender” is a tricky word. At times it implies that our weakness led to our defeat. That puts it in the four-letter-word category for humanity, especially for us Americans. It also can serve as an easy way out for some. It is probably good that we are averse to it in those cases. 

But eventually we experience enough defeat that we arrive, weary, at the fork in the road where Wisdom awaits.  This is a profoundly significant juncture in our spiritual journey. Will Weary shake hands with Wisdom?

If we choose to travel the road of despair, we face some sort of damage to ourselves and those around us. If we choose to travel the road of desperate striving, the same is true. Significantly, both roads are choices that keep us in charge.

If we choose to surrender ourselves, however, if we shake hands with Wisdom, we discover “God knows our need, to our weaknesses no stranger.” That is when we “Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!”

At the fork in the road, when neither option is good and we have at last bowed down, Jesus lifts us up onto His shoulders. (Remember the proverbial lost lamb?) Then off we go across the fertile fields with that thrill of hope, the weary world’s rejoicing. 

Have you been—or are you now—weary? Were you--or are you now—facing a choice between despair or desperate striving to keep going?  Did you—or do you now--realize Wisdom is standing at the fork in the road whispering for you to surrender to Jesus? 

Surrender may require more strength than you’ve ever known yourself to have. Yet strength will appear as you decide to trust Jesus to carry you off the beaten path on a new adventure with Him in charge.