Truth for Today ~ Relinquishing Control

“…There is one thing that has always been true; it holds the world together…There is no power above or beside Him, we know, oh God is in control…”
from the song God is in Control by Twila Paris.

I love the lyrics to this song. I think it’s a good reminder of where we stand as children of God.

When the Israelites believed there was no escape from Pharaoah and his Egyptian army, God divided the Red Sea….God was in control.
 
When the walls of Jericho came crashing down….God was in control.
 
When Daniel was thrown to a den of hungry lions…God was in control.
 
When Jesus (Yeshua) was mocked and spit upon and laughed at…God was in control.
 
When the stone was rolled away, only to reveal that HE had risen…God was in control.
 
When the early Christians were persecuted for their faith…God was in control.
 
When my mom passed away in March and it just didn’t seem fair….God was in control.
 
When I was told my sweet baby girl would be born three weeks early….God was in control.
 
When the world seems overwhelming and I just can’t seem to get a hold on things…God is in control.

Take comfort in these words:

“…your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”  Matthew 6:8 (NIV, emphasis mine)

Yesterday I spent eight hours trying to figure out how to edit an html code so I could insert a drop down menu on my blog. It sounds trivial and unimportant and in the end it is. Lately I have been so focused on making my blog look great. I go to other’s blogs and think “Oh, I need those fancy social icons” or “Ooh! I want a scrolling banner!” I spend so much time worrying about how I can make my blog better, how I can get more page views, more subscribers, that I end up losing sight of why I started this blog in the first place:

To bring glory and honor to my Creator.

I love to be in control. I take comfort in control. When my world was turned upside down by my mom’s passing this last spring, I felt so out of control of my life I grasped at whatever I could to regain some sort of balance. However, instead of falling at the feet of my Savior, the One who sees me (Genesis 16:13), I clung to the one and only thing I could control….my household.

I remember my husband staring at 7 month pregnant me and asking me what I was doing. “Sit down,” he kept saying to me. I didn’t listen. If I sat down I knew I would have to face reality and I wasn’t ready to do that. I did dishes, I cooked, I folded clothes, I put up the baby’s crib…..anything I could do that I could do.

I love the way Mary DeMuth words it in her new book, Everything.

She says:

“Control satiates me. It calms me. Nursing it helps me make sense of my world. When trials inevitably knock at my door, my resposne is to clean my house, align the cans in my pantry, create order from chaos…Our need for control shoves away God’s ownership in our lives…In relinquishing control…We learn to trust the sovereign One with our lives…” (Everything, pp. 76-78)

Mary’s words ring so true in my own ears. Control, at times, has been my idol. I had to apologize to my husband yesterday for spending so much time on something that was no unimportant. I could’ve been spending his day off with him, I could’ve been baking cookies with my 4-year-old for the upcoming Harvest Party at our church, I could’ve been basking in the sweet sounds of my 4-month-old’s coos and giggles. Instead I was worried about drop down menus.

My goal this week: to relinquish control to the One who already has it to begin with.

How about you? What areas of your life do you find difficult to give over to God?

As always, I love hearing your thoughts and insights. Leave them in the comments section below or visit my Facebook page and post on my wall. Until then, Happy Reading!

Yours in Christ,

S