Surrendering after we've given up I I Raise My White Flag I Frank Santora

Oct 20, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: White Flags Raised, Not Dropped

Surrender isn’t passive resignation—it’s active trust. When life’s battles leave us exhausted, we often drop our white flags in defeat, mistaking surrender for quitting. True surrender lifts that flag high, not as a sign of weakness but as a declaration that God’s strength meets us where ours ends. It’s choosing to walk toward Him even when the fight feels lost. What looks like failure becomes the starting line for His faithfulness. [02:37]

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”
(Hebrews 12:2, NKJV)

Reflection: Where have you dropped your white flag in defeat instead of raising it in surrender? What would it look like to hand that struggle to God today?

Day 2: When Good Intentions Lead to Wilderness

Moses’ passion for justice led to murder, exile, and 40 years tending sheep. Right motives gone wrong can leave us stranded in life’s deserts, asking, “How did I get here?” Yet even there, God trains us. The wilderness isn’t punishment—it’s preparation. What feels like a detour is often Divine University, where we learn to trust His timing over our impulses. [07:06]

“Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”
(Exodus 2:11–12, NKJV)

Reflection: When has a well-meaning choice led you into a wilderness? How might God be using this season to reshape your heart?

Day 3: Sheep in the Desert, Dreams in the Ashes

Moses traded palace robes for shepherd’s rags, settling into a small life after his big failure. Settling says, “This is all I deserve.” Surrender whispers, “God isn’t done.” Midian’s desert wasn’t Moses’ end—it was where God met him to reignite purpose. Our compromises become altars when we let God redefine what “enough” means. [13:45]

“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.”
(Exodus 3:1–2, NKJV)

Reflection: What dream have you buried under “it is what it is”? How might God be inviting you to dig it up and hand it to Him?

Day 4: Bushes Burning, Hearts Rekindling

God didn’t send Moses a sermon—He sent a burning bush. Divine interruptions often look inconvenient, even absurd. But holy fire demands attention. What ordinary moment in your life is God setting ablaze to pull you back into His purpose? Don’t dismiss the odd or inconvenient—He speaks through what won’t be consumed. [23:03]

“So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.’”
(Exodus 3:4–5, NKJV)

Reflection: What “burning bush” moment have you been avoiding or rationalizing away? What might God say if you turned aside to listen?

Day 5: Bare Feet on Holy Ground

God told Moses to remove his sandals—not to shame him, but to draw him close. Shoes symbolize self-sufficiency; bare feet confess dependence. Surrender requires shedding whatever separates us from His presence—guilt, control, or the lie that we’re too broken. Holy ground isn’t for perfect people—it’s where the God of Jacob meets us in our mess. [30:16]

“Moreover He said, ‘I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.”
(Exodus 3:6, NKJV)

Reflection: What “shoes” are you still wearing that keep you at arm’s length from God? What would it mean to stand barefoot before Him today?

Sermon Summary

Giving up and surrendering can look exactly the same from the outside, but they are worlds apart. Giving up quits on God and says, “I can’t”; surrender trusts God and says, “He can.” Surrender raises the white flag and walks toward God, while giving up drops that flag in the middle of hurt, failure, disappointment, or a dream that feels dead. God is not just healer, provider, redeemer, and strong tower. God is also the finisher, the Author and Finisher of faith.

Moses shows how a person can have everything and still be unsettled. Success outside of purpose leaves a person empty on the inside, and Moses could not ignore the suffering of his Hebrew people. Moses had the right outrage and the right desire to intervene, but right went wrong when he killed the Egyptian and hid the body. Right can go wrong in marriages, families, plans, careers, and dreams, leaving a person speechless before a life that no longer makes sense.

Settling becomes the dangerous place after giving up. Moses survived his failure, married Zipporah, worked for his father-in-law, raised children, and tended somebody else’s sheep in Midian. But surviving did not mean he had surrendered. Settling says, “God, I guess this will have to do,” while surrender says, “God, Your will be done.” Midian became Moses’ safe place, but safe places can become stuck places when hope for God’s purpose gets laid down.

God never gave up on Moses, even when Moses gave up on God’s plan. The wilderness became Desert University, where Moses learned how to hear God, understand who God is, surrender his own will, and discover that he did not need more stuff. Moses’ palace education had a purpose, but the desert trained him to lead people through the wilderness. God can take what went really, really wrong and use it to give wisdom, compassion, and preparation for what comes next.

The burning bush interrupted Moses’ ordinary life because God sometimes sets things on fire to rekindle surrender. The bush burned without being consumed, and Moses turned aside. God called Moses by name, not to shame him, but to forgive and invite him near. The command to take off his sandals revealed that surrender requires an intimate, shoes-off relationship with God, without shame, guilt, bitterness, or other barriers in the way.

God’s name, “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” finally showed Moses that God is not only God of the polished parts. God is also the God of Jacob, the trickster, runner, mess-maker, and failure. Moses could come just as he was, but God would not leave him as he was. Midian was not Moses’ final destination, and one encounter with God sent him back into purpose.

Key Takeaways

1. Giving up is not surrender
Giving up walks away from the struggle because hope has collapsed. Surrender brings the struggle to God and places the outcome in His hands. The difference is not whether a person feels weak; the difference is whether weakness becomes resignation or trust. God can receive a white flag that has been dropped for a long time. [02:37]
2. Settling lays down hope
Settling can look responsible because it survives, works, provides, and keeps life manageable. But settling quietly decides that God is no longer writing a future worth expecting. Surrender lays down personal control without laying down God-given hope. Midian may be a place of safety for a season, but it cannot become the final definition of a life. [14:23]
3. The wilderness can become preparation
Desert University is not wasted ground when God is present in it. God can teach listening, theology, surrender, and dependence in places that feel like consequences or detours. Moses learned how to survive and lead in the very wilderness through which Israel would later travel. What feels like a setback can become training for a future assignment. [18:22]
4. God calls people by name
God met Moses at the burning bush with personal knowledge, not public humiliation. God knew the murderer, the runaway, the disappointed dreamer, and still said, “Moses, Moses.” Divine forgiveness does not pretend the failure never happened, but it refuses to let failure have the final word. God’s call reaches people in the middle of their quitting. [26:48]
5. God is also God of Jacob
God identifies Himself with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because grace reaches beyond the honorable parts of a story. Jacob represents the messy, manipulative, running, wrong-going-wrong part of a life. God receives people with their hangups, hurts, failures, and family struggles, yet His love refuses to leave them unchanged. The God of Jacob can still use a Moses who thought his moment was over. [34:36]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:51] - Surrendering After Giving Up
[02:37] - Giving Up Versus Surrender
[04:06] - God Is a Finisher
[06:43] - Moses Asks, How Did I Get Here?
[07:54] - When Right Goes Wrong
[13:02] - Settling Is Not Surrendering
[16:35] - God Never Gave Up on Moses
[18:22] - Desert University
[22:26] - The Burning Bush
[26:48] - Forgiveness and Holy Ground
[32:52] - The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
[36:54] - Midian Is Not the Final Destination
[37:27] - One Encounter Can Change a Life

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Exodus 3:1-6
“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.”

Observation questions

What details in Exodus 3:1-6 show that Moses was living an ordinary life in Midian before God interrupted him?
What made the burning bush different enough that Moses chose to turn aside and investigate? [22:35]
When God called Moses by name, what was Moses’ response, and what did God tell him to do next?
What names did God use for Himself in Exodus 3:6, and why might those names have mattered to Moses after his years of failure and hiding? [32:52]

Interpretation questions

Moses had survived in Midian, built a family, and worked faithfully, yet he had also settled into a life smaller than God’s purpose for him. What is the difference between healthy contentment and settling out of fear or disappointment? [13:02]
God called Moses by name before giving him an assignment. What does this reveal about how God approaches people who feel disqualified by their past? [26:48]
God told Moses to remove his sandals because he was on holy ground. How does this command show both God’s holiness and His invitation for Moses to come near? [27:21]
God identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Why is the mention of Jacob especially meaningful for someone like Moses, whose desire to do right had gone terribly wrong? [34:15]

Application questions

Is there an area of life where giving up has been mistaken for surrender—such as a relationship, a prayer, a calling, a habit, or a hope? What would it look like to bring that area back to God instead of walking away from it? [02:47]
What is a personal “Midian”—a safe, familiar place, pattern, or mindset that may have become a stuck place? What fear makes it difficult to believe that God could still have more ahead? [15:53]
Has a past failure, poor decision, or painful detour caused a person to feel that God’s purpose is over? How could that experience become part of the preparation to serve or encourage someone else? [18:22]
What “shoes” might be standing between a person and honest closeness with God—shame, guilt, bitterness, unforgiveness, hiding, or something else? What is one practical step toward bringing that honestly before God this week? [30:16]
Where might God be interrupting the ordinary rhythm of life right now? How can a person make space to turn aside, listen, and respond rather than simply pushing through the interruption? [23:30]
God is not only the God of polished and successful parts of a story; He is also the God of Jacob—the messy, running, wrong-going-wrong parts. Which part of a personal story is hardest to believe God can redeem, and what would it mean to surrender that part to Him? [35:01]

Sermon Clips

42s

#GodCanUseYou

“And when he said, I'm the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all of a sudden, Moses realized something that God still can use me. I'm here to tell somebody whether you mess up or whether you're perfect. God can use you. I wanna tell you that God takes you as you are. Hangups, mess ups, hurts, faults, failures, family struggles. But I need you to know that even though he receives you in that condition, he doesn't allow you to stay the same.”

45s

#NeverGiveUp

“Midian was Moses' safe place. It was the place that he retreated where life could just make a little sense. What is your medium? What is the place that you retreat to because you settled that old job, that old habit, that old friends group, that old way of life? Because there, at least, life made sense. You didn't have to ask yourself how you got there. You were just there, and you were choosing to be there. Here's the good news, though. Moses gave up on God's plan, but God never gave up on Moses.”

57s

#TransformationThroughFaith

“The world has got it half right. And the half right is that, well, you just gotta take me as I am. This is who I am. And god is like, just as you are. But then when you come just as you are, god said, we can't leave you as you were. We've gotta change you into the image of Jesus from faith to faith and glory to glory. We gotta kill some things on the inside of you. We gotta let some... Snipe some stuff on fire. We gotta maybe bring you through the wilderness so some stuff could get knocked off of you because the plan that I have for you requires an intimate relationship with me.”

30s

#KeepBelieving

“Has life ever left you speechless? I don't understand how I got here. And then the voice of the enemy comes in, and the voice of the enemy says, you blown it. You made the mistake. You'll never be. It'll never happen. You've missed your moment. You killed your dream. When you listen to those voices long enough, guess what happens? You stop fighting, you stop believing, and you give up.”

25s

#CalledToPurpose

“In other words, when you can't put a fire out, when you can't stop a nagging, when something is always going, no matter how hard you try, you can't get rid of it, you can't stop it, you can't make it to change. That could be God putting some stuff on fire to pull you out of the place that you quit and put you back into the purpose that he has.”

30s

#GodLovesAllOfYou

“Here's what god is saying and here's what caused Moses to finally get it. He understood that god is not the god of just our good parts. God is not just the god of the parts of us that behaves. God is not just a part of us that submits. God is the part of our Jacob. He's the part of our waywardness. He's the god who follows after us even when we don't deserve it.”

39s

#IntimacyWithGod

“if you're gonna surrender to me, it starts with an intimate skin on skin relationship with me where there is no more shoes in the way. Can I tell somebody take off your shoes? Take off the shoes of shame and guilt. Take off the shoes of unforgiveness and bitterness. Take off the shoes. Anything that is standing in the way of you and god, take em off because god, he wants to have an intimate relationship with you. He wants to know you in your messy parts, not that he don't, and in your beautiful parts.”

52s

#PurposeOverSuccess

“Giving up begins when right goes wrong. Moses has got it all, but he's unsettled because success outside of purpose will unsettle you. Listen to me carefully because there's a lot of people there chasing success. They're chasing stuff. They're chasing jobs. They're chasing money. They're chasing opportunity. They're chasing promotion. They're chasing a lot of things because they think that those things will make them happy. But but but but but Solomon, the wealthiest man who ever lived, who had everything at the end of his life, looked at it all, he said, what does it all mean? It's meaningless, meaningless, meaningless. Because success without purpose, success without a cause, success without God leaves you empty on the inside. And so Moses has got everything. He's gonna be the next pharaoh, but he's unsettled on the inside. He's unsettled.”

31s

#GodFinishesWhatHeStarts

“And Moses learned something that he's preaching to us today. That way we surrender, when we give up, God finishes what he started. That it's never too late. That it's never too late to raise the white flag. It's it's never too late for God to work again. Your Midian is not your final destination. God doesn't need you to have it all together. He needs you to take off your shoes and surrender. And when you do, God says, okay. Let's finish what we started.”

34s

#WhenLifeGoesWrong

“The reality of life, sometimes right goes wrong. You can have good intentions, but right can go wrong. You can think you're gonna marry for life, but right can go wrong. You can love and nurture your children, but right can go wrong. You can have a plan for your life. You're gonna go to this school. You're gonna get this education. You're gonna graduate at this time. You're gonna get this kind of job. You're gonna live in this kind of house. You're gonna marry this kind of person. You're gonna have these kind of kids. You're gonna achieve this level of success. And somewhere along life's journey, right goes wrong.”

58s

#SurvivorStrength

“And by the way, I don't wanna make light of that because there are people in this room, you are survivors to the glory of God. You have survived right going wrong. You have survived the things that should have taken you out. And there is a level of gratefulness and there is a level of thankfulness in your heart because God has brought you well beyond where you deserve to be. And that's good, it doesn't mean you should settle. He survived, but he let go of the thought that he could be Israel's deliverer. Surviving took a toll on him, made him stutter, made him stop fighting. Now he has to settle for something less like shepherding somebody else's sheep. Moses survived, but he gave up on his dream. He gave up on the passion. He gave up on the purpose. Am I talking to anybody?”

49s

#PreparedForPurpose

“And so god begins to take Moses to a place that most people don't like because god god was trying to enroll Moses in a different school. Moses had been raised and reared in the ways of the Egyptians, but his purpose was never to lead Egypt. That was just a inside peak. That was a peak into the palace. That was God giving him a chance to see behind enemy lines. That was God educating him before the real education. Now God said, Moses, now it's time for PhD at Desert University where you can learn how to lead a people out of Egypt and through the wilderness into the promised land.”

51s

#FindingYourWayBack

“he's asking himself a question that I'm sure you've asked yourself or you will ask yourself at some point in your life. How did I get here? How did I wind up in this mess? Maybe for you, how did I become so angry? How did I become so bitter? How did I become so joyless? How did I become so cynical? When did I start to believe that things were too difficult for you? When did I start talking myself out of miracles? Have you ever been there before where you've looked around your life and you've asked yourself the question, I don't know how I got here. It's not where I intended to be, not where I thought I would be, but here I am.”

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