I have been known, on occasion, to have a bit of a tough time relinquishing control. I think a lot of us moms are like that especially when it comes to our kids. No one could possible do things as well as mommy does right? And I just know if I entrust someone else with the nitty-gritty details the sky will surely come falling down. If someone puts them to bed 10 minutes past our regular bedtime I just know they will suffer from sleep deprivation. If the bottle is held at a fifteen degree angle instead of the perfect thirty degree angle they will for sure be up all night screaming with gas pains. If they are taken to the playground without full body armor on they are sure to break some bones……not to mention the devastating amount of germs and illnesses they are destined to pick up at the park water fountain! Come on, admit it. You know what I am talking about.
Okay so maybe some of these are a bit exaggerated…..maybe. I think if we are honest we all have a little trouble trusting others with the care of our children right? But what about our lives? I don’t know about you but I rather like the idea of being in control of my own life. I don’t like the feeling of being at the mercy of others. I often feel like I need to be the one making the decisions that affect my own life, but God’s word tells us over and over again that we are to trust Him with our lives. In theory, this is a simple thing. God is awesome. He knows everything and has my best interest in mind. His plans are always better than mine. So why do I often find myself struggling to give in and let Him have control. Why is it so hard to submit to what He calls me to do in both the little and the big things in my life?
I want to pause here with this post because if you are asking yourself right now, “Why should I trust God? How do I trust God?” then you are in the right place. This is a safe place to ask those questions. I want to point you to some scripture to answer some of those questions because this post may not answer all of them. If this is you I encourage you to read the following scriptures and then comment or message me. Read Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 43:2, 1 John 5:14, and James 1:6. Let’s have a discussion about it!
This week in my quiet time I have been reading a wonderful new book and in one of the chapters it encouraged me to read Psalms chapter 8. So I did.
“…When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.”
I have read this before but for some reason on this day I heard God whispering to me a new lesson. Stay with me here…..
God. God of all the universe and maker of everything. He is in control of it all. With His greatest masterpiece, you would think He would be very possessive of, just as we are with the things that are important to us. But these verses tell us that God took His most prized possession and He gave all control of it to me and to you. He put everything under our feet and made us rulers of everything here on earth. He crowned us with glory and honor! What did we do to deserve that? NOTHING!
Now I know that God is not human and for me to compare Him to a human is probably just flat-out wrong. But if you can just stick with me a bit here I think you will see what God was teaching me today. For most of us, to take something that we worked hard to build and protect and give complete control of it over to someone else would be torture. And then to watch that person mistreat it, abuse it, not be grateful for it, and all but ruin it…..I think most of us would be saying, “Hey! You are fired!” Yet God has given us control of something that is so important to Him. He has given us control over ourselves, we have the power to decide what we do and the actions we take. He has given us authority over this world we live in. What have we done with what He has entrusted us with? I don’t know about you but when I look at my life from this perspective I feel a bit ashamed. I can’t even give up control of vacuuming the floor to someone else because I just know they won’t do a good enough job. But God gave up everything for me.
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
It all boils down to trust. I am not worthy of God to trust me with what He has given me. He has given me a family and three amazing children to care for. He has given me friends and relationships to nurture. He has given me all of my worldly possessions to look after. Why did He entrust me with all of these things? Why did He crown me with glory and honor?
I don’t know all of these answers, and I am sure there is some seminary graduate reading this that does know those answers. But here is what I think. I think He entrusted me with all of that to be an example of how I can and should trust Him with all of it. His actions are the absolute perfect example to me. When I think of it in human terms, it would be excruciating to do what He has done for us. To just watch us mess up and destroy His creations (both our world and ourselves).
When we become a new creation by inviting God into our lives and hearts, we are exactly that…a NEW creation. If we trust God with our lives and our eternity, why wouldn’t we trust God with the daily ins and outs of life? Why wouldn’t we trust that He has our backs? More importantly, what does it say to God when we don’t trust Him enough to step into our new identity with Him? What if we choose not to live with the authority that He has entrusted us with? I want to start a discussion here, what does that say to Him?
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