Hang On, Let Go - Pastor's Column, Oct. 2021
A pastor friend of mine recently put me on to a book called Hang On, Let Go by Frank Viola. The subtext of the title is “What to do when your dreams are shattered and life is falling apart.” When my friend described the book, it definitely sounded like a helpful read. I’m currently only about a third of the way through the book, and there hasn’t been anything relayed that I didn’t already know, but the wisdom given are things of which I find I need constant reminders. The author takes a look at the storms of life, whatever they may be, that come to us and shake us to the core. In the midst of them, he encourages readers to do just what his title says: hang on and let go.
Perhaps the title seems a little ridiculous. “Hang on” and “let go” are indeed opposites, so to do both sounds like a paradox. But what the author intends is that we learn to hang on to one thing, while letting go of another. In the opening chapters he writes, “In the face of the whirlwind, you hang on tightly to God. At the same time, you let go of the outcome.”
The first example of this from scripture the author gives is the story of Abraham and Isaac. You may recall the story in Genesis 22 in which Abraham is tested by God and instructed to sacrifice Isaac, but at the last moment, God sends an angel to stay Abraham’s hand and provides a ram for sacrifice. Surely we can imagine Abraham’s torment at being asked to sacrifice his son, who was a fulfillment of the promise of God, a promise he had waited so long to receive. But Abraham obeyed God. He “let go” of his most precious gift, his son. He “let go” of whatever the outcome of this test might be. He surrendered to the will of God. But in doing so, Abraham also shows us that he was “hanging on” and clinging to his God and hanging on to God’s promises. Even in this terrible test of his faith, Abraham hung on and let go. He hung on to God, expecting that God would be good and gracious, while letting go of all else.
Perhaps in this ongoing season of pandemic and uncertainty, social anxiety, and political animosity, this lesson of hanging on and letting go is all the more important for us. If we are being taught and disciplined at all by these things, it surely is to learn to control what we can, but at the same time, to let go of those things which we cannot control. We let go of them, while hanging on tightly to our God.
Peter Leithart of the Theopolis Institute recently wrote, “the past year and a half should have demolished our illusion of control.” He references how all of our lockdowns, mandates, vaccines, social distancing, and etc. have sought to control the pandemic without success. He says we have to learn to live in a world we can’t control, especially as we have never been in control. That’s letting go. We endure the storms and let go of what the outcome may be. But we hold on to our God and his promise of life that is ours through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are reminded in Scripture that sometimes God stills the storms, while at other times he does not. We hang on and let go in both types of situations, for even if the storm continues and we come to shipwreck, our Lord will still be with us to bring us through it. As we let go of the illusion of control and cling to our Lord, it is true that our human grip, often weak, may slip. We may be tempted to simply give up (which is completely different from letting go). But even then, we can hang on by trusting in God’s faithfulness to catch us and bear us up again as if on eagles’ wings. So hang on, let go.