Out of control and loving it!

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
-Proverbs 3:5

I’m very much a plan guy. I like to have a plan. I want to know where I am, where I am going, and how I’m going to get there. I think days, weeks, and even months ahead on projects at work and home. I’m that guy.

My wife is even more of a plan person. While I will plan far ahead on work and home issues, I will pick a restaurant on a whim. She does not like that. She wants to know when we are going out and to where, and she doesn’t like it when I cannot answer that question the day before we go.

We like to be in control. I don’t think we are unusual in that. Most people like to be in control, whether or not they like to plan that far ahead. No one likes to be tossed about on every wind like an unmanned boat in a storm.

We are especially controlling when it comes to an immediate problem with someone we love. All we want to do is to fix it.

In Christianity, this is actually a problem.

See, God does not want us to worry about tomorrow, even whether we will eat or not (see Matthew 6:25-34). He wants us to trust Him to take care of it.

When we try to take control of every situation and bend the outcome to our will, we are being “amateur providences,” to borrow a phrase from Oswald Chambers. We are trying to play God. We are saying, in essence, “This situation is going to go all wrong without MY help!”, and we forget that God is in control of all things.

Do you not know that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, NASB)? If we believe this, then why do we feel the need to worry over every problem that someone encounters? Should we sympathize? Yes! Should we be there for that person? Yes! But in the end, we should recognize that it is God that will guide the situation, not us. And we should remind our friends of that when they are going through pain.

This does not mean we should not hurt! Jesus wept, remember. This does not mean we should blow off someone’s pain. This does not even mean we should flippantly say “God is in control” and make someone feel bad for hurting. There is sin in the world. There is death and sickness. There are reasons to be sad. There are reasons to weep.

But there are also reasons to say, as Job did when Satan took all he had, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).

Jesus understands what we are going through. He’s been there. The worst evil the world has ever committed was committed against Him. Even though He was innocent, He was beaten nearly to death, hung on a Cross, mocked, scorned, and killed. He had done nothing wrong, and He faced death by crucifixion, one of the more torturous ways to die man has ever dreamed up.

And even that God used for the good. Through the death of Jesus, we can all be saved. By His Blood we can all be cleansed. See, we have all sinned, we have all committed evil, and because of that we could never earn heaven. But in death Jesus took the punishment for us. If we repent and believe in Him, we will be saved.

God took that terrible evil, the worst ever committed, and turned it into the greatest good this world has ever seen. That is the care and control He applies on our lives. If you are a Christian, then you are given the promise of Romans 8:28. God will use every bit of your life for your good. If you are not a Christian, become one. Repent to Jesus and ask His forgiveness. Believe in Him, and you will have this promise too.

And once you believe in Him for your soul, believe in Him for your bread too. He’ll take care of us; trust Him.