Do you know that feeling when you’re skidding and you can’t stop? Anyone who has driven on ice or hydroplaned during a rainstorm knows how helpless it feels.
That’s how life can feel sometimes. Loss of control.
When we face uncontrollable circumstances, it can be scary. So our reaction is to try to control as much as we can.
Control people or plans or government guidance or helpful but stressed coworkers. Control your children. Control your investments. Control the calendar, the clock, the conversation. We bombard ourselves with notifications so that we can keep up-to-date on the world and have a sense of control over it.
But we are not in control of everything.
God is. Always has been. Always will be.
And you don’t need to be in control. Actually, think about this, what if you were in control of everything? Would you manage it, rule it, fix it, distribute it and administer it as well as God? No way.
Want more traction for the days and weeks ahead? Would it help to have a sense of certainty to your life? Then believe this:
“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand” (Psalm 37:23,24).
Delight in the Lord. Trust him. Follow him even though you can’t see clearly. You know him, and how good he is, how strong he is, how he always comes through for you. You have trusted his word before, so trust it again. His word never fails. You are willing to put your soul and eternity in his hands, so how about the next 24 hours of your life, too?
You may feel like you are slipping, but his hand has you. All of you. All the time. You will not fall.
God isn’t slipping or skidding off the road. God is the road.
PRAYER: Dear God, your control is both strong and gentle, rigid and free. Your hand sometimes guides, sometimes comforts, and sometimes shields. Please give me the faith to control less, and trust you more. And when I can’t control others as I’d like, let me be gentle with them, too. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: What does it mean for you to delight in the Lord? For me, that’s not duty, not rule-keeping or behavior modification. That’s a relationship where I just love my Savior. He is beautiful to me. I can’t wait to spend quality time with him. I want to take him with me to Home Depot and browse the aisles. I want to laugh together with him treasuring the blessings of the previous day. I want to stay close to him during the storm. Listen to him when I’m making a decision. Talk to him as my best friend. Trust him with my everything: my own life and soul and eternity and this day.