The Song Born from Five Years of Resistance

For five years, Judson Van DeVenter said no to God. A gifted art teacher in Michigan in the 1890s, he loved painting, loved his students, and had built a comfortable life around his talent. But something kept pressing on his heart — a persistent, quiet call to leave it all behind and enter full-time evangelistic ministry.

He wrestled. He reasoned. He bargained. Surely the Almighty could use a man who painted as easily as one who preached. Surely there was a way to split the difference. But the call never shifted. It never softened. It simply waited.

Finally, Van DeVenter knelt and gave in — not halfway, not with conditions, but completely. He later described the moment as the greatest turning point of his life. And out of that long struggle came a hymn the church has sung for over a century: I Surrender All.

What strikes me about this story is the five years. God did not drag Van DeVenter into obedience. He did not punish him for hesitating. He held the invitation open and let the man come in his own time. But the breakthrough — the peace, the purpose, the fruitfulness — only came when Van DeVenter stopped negotiating and started surrendering.

Most of us are not struggling with whether to obey. We are struggling with how much. El Shaddai does not ask for our partial cooperation. He asks for our whole yes.