God is in control is such a simple phrase to say but a hard one to live by. It is so easy to tell someone else, but so hard to hear yourself. I’m a problem solver. Whenever I see an issue arise, I always have some way to fix it. This can be great in certain situations, but is terrible in others. I am awful at telling the difference. When the storms of life come I want to jump up and start fixing all the leaks in the boat. Patience is not my strong suit. Biting my tongue does not come easily. Sure, I’ve heard Matthew 6:33 a million times (Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need) but it doesn’t make it any easier.
When everything seems like it is falling down, am I am just supposed to seek after God? It goes against logic. It goes against everything I want to do. Of course I want God to give me everything I need, but is that supposed to happen by just seeking Him? I don’t want to be like the lazy servant in Matthew 25, but I also don’t want to take over what God is trying to do. It is such a delicate balance that I am terrible at. Does that mean I am like the double minded man James talks about in his letter? Should I not expect to receive anything?
It gets easy to feel guilty. Am I not trusting in God like I should? What kind of Christian does that make me? All the while, I’m still missing the point. God is simply just asking me to have a relationship with Him. Just asking me to seek after Him. Here I am turning it into so much more. God is in control and I should trust that. The quickest way to earn trust is to have a relationship. I want to trust that God is in control, but in trying to fix everything I am neglecting the one thing that makes it easiest to trust.
I want to fix things. I want to know the next steps (or the next 5 or 10). I want to see progress. I want to complain about the current situation. God just wants me to trust. He knows that if I would just do that one simple thing, I would see everything else I want to.
until next time…
Photo courtesy of Håkan Dahlström