Morning after morning, I slump into my spot in the driver’s seat. I will take the wheel and mutter a few words of prayer I have known to be more of a family recitation; some lines I had picked up from years of sitting alongside my Dad in the front seat of his Mitsubishi Galant.
This particular morning, I mumbled those same prayer lines- “Jesus, take the wheel”, and drove off. In the middle of the highway, I heard my thoughts loud and clear. A silent but firm whisper is oozing from my subconscious with the same intensity as water finding its way out of a busted pipeline.
The thoughts, can you hand the wheel over to God right now and right here? As if seeking an answer, I looked around me. I was positioned right in the middle lane of a five-lane highway with a speed limit of 120km/HR. Cars were switching lanes in all directions around me. Rather than answer the question, other questions began flooding my mind as if to answer one question with so many others.
How will I make such transfer? How do I switch seats with God? Why would I sit back and watch things go out of my control even for a split second while God gets ready to take charge of the driver’s seat? Can I trust Him to take control of my vehicle on this busy highway while I do nothing?
In short, why would I want God to have ABSOLUTE control of my car wheel when I have it where I want it?
It’s so easy to give God outright control of what we deem as ours when all is out of our control.
Very easy to yell His name and scream at Him to take the wheel in the middle of the highway when the car is spinning 360 degrees! Countless times we have thrown up our hands in the air in total surrender to God when things are out of our control and far outside our sphere of influence.
Hello. I was a control freak. Let me share three truths I learned about letting go and trusting the father’s love at each moment.
1 When you let go, you will learn to live freely.
“A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’
We are under a constant illusion that we have control. But NO we don’t! The truth is, we may never learn that lesson until we lose control. We plan it, and it comes to fruition, so we think we have control. Then we work harder to keep many aspects of life in our control. It starts to get very exhausting. A little disruption, and our world comes crashing.
But when you let go control, you will learn to live peacefully because surrender is peaceful.
When we can trust the father’s love at each moment, we will know how to live freely. To trust the father’s love is to let go, and live daily in the knowledge that he holds our lives in his hands.To know that the father’s love never fails.
2 When you let go of control, you let God.
“Let go of your concerns! Then you will know that I am God. I rule the nations. I rule the earth.” (Psalm 46:10 GW) So why did God ask us to cast our cares unto him? God can do a lot more with our cares than we could, and they are not worth holding on to. But before he could handle those, they must be handed over.
We all love some degree of control, but that’s when God backs out! When you are in control of your life, you put God out of control.
So Paul said in John 3:30. He must take center stage, and I must step to the sideline.
When you rewrite your version of the story of your life, God is never in it. When you have the center stage, He is off the stage – He doesn’t take the backstage.
With God on the scene, there are no two stars. The spotlight is either on Him, or God is not on the stage at all.
3 When you let go, you lose nothing.
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. Matthew 16: 25.
Indeed, surrendering to God is not our loss, it’s our gain. But sometimes it is a big struggle to surrender to God because often, we think we lose something when we let go.
Letting go to God is not our loss, it’s our gain.
When a master gardener prunes his tomato plants, the plant is not at a loss; it only bears more fruit.
Withering leaves are more comfortable to let go than healthy ones. Even then, surrendering is never our loss; it is our gain.
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