Greetings,
Control is an interesting concept. In the realm of controlling people and things, we regularly use words like coach, manage, repair, restore and maintain. Each of these words insinuates a conflict, a fight or a battle. In coaching, you prepare someone for a competition or event, and in the process you have smaller conflicts of will, mind and body. Managers are constantly arranging and re-arranging schedules, personnel, inventory and customers. Repairing, restoring and maintaining anything is a battle against nature itself--a battle with gravity, oxygen, moisture and general wear and tear and decay.
We were designed by God from the beginning to desire to subdue the earth and make it obey us. That desire is still in us and will remain until we see the Lord face to face. In that moment we will realize the fruitlessness of our efforts and endeavors to control the world around us.
Let me be clear--I am not speaking of self-control or the ability to subdue your own impulses. That is a spiritual discipline and should be developed throughout our lifetime. The kind of control I am referring to is the desire to influence someone’s decisions and behavior--the kind of control a parent demands from a child once the parent is exasperated, or the control of a lord over his subjects.
The Lord God alone is truly sovereign. That simply means being in total control. The highest level of control rests in His supreme hands.
I have tried to control many things in my life, and so far, my success in maintaining control is abysmal. I can’t fully control anything. My dog listens to me most of the time but I am definitely not sovereign over him. My kids say that they respect me to my face, but do a good job demonstrating to me that I am by no means sovereign in their lives. So why is it that I strive, strain and sometimes demand control?
In the book of Isaiah, we are told that when we wait for the Lord, things happen that wouldn’t otherwise happen. There is a renewing and an endurance that we don’t have when we trust in our own understanding and lean on our own strength. That is so counter-intuitive to what we do in trying to control things. Wait!?
Isaiah 40:31 says, "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
Why is my first response to capture and cage the eagle? Why do I want to say, "Stop! Hold on! Do you have the proper attire? Are you sure you are an eagle? What if your wings aren’t fully developed?"
Why do I desire this control? I crave a world that I can wrap my arms around. If I crave that type of a world, that is the world that I will receive. A small, controllable, sad, crippled eagle sitting in a small cage that I can manage.
This freedom in Christ depends upon where we put our trust. Waiting on the Lord is actively waiting for the expert. There is a responsibility for believers to be a wise stewards of what the expert has entrusted us. However, we must always trust in the Lord’s sovereignty, not only in word but in action, not only when we don’t know what to do but when we think we do.
Do you trust that the Lord is going to do something great? Do you trust that this trial will be used for your personal growth? Do you trust that the Lord will provide your every need? He is, He will, He does--every time. It often makes no sense in our logic. We shouldn’t ever be able to wrap our arms around it. It is alright if we can’t wrap our minds around it. But still we trust. Trust that He will make sense of tragedy and loss. Trust that He will provide when there seems to be no way. Believe that He will protect on journeys far from home and that He will use us to fulfill great works in Salem and around the world for His glory and His name. How is He going to do it? I don’t know and that is the fun of trusting and losing control.
May you “lose control” this week to the One who existed before anything else, and holds all creation together (Colossians 1:17).
Love ya,
Chris
Let me be clear--I am not speaking of self-control or the ability to subdue your own impulses. That is a spiritual discipline and should be developed throughout our lifetime. The kind of control I am referring to is the desire to influence someone’s decisions and behavior--the kind of control a parent demands from a child once the parent is exasperated, or the control of a lord over his subjects.
The Lord God alone is truly sovereign. That simply means being in total control. The highest level of control rests in His supreme hands.
I have tried to control many things in my life, and so far, my success in maintaining control is abysmal. I can’t fully control anything. My dog listens to me most of the time but I am definitely not sovereign over him. My kids say that they respect me to my face, but do a good job demonstrating to me that I am by no means sovereign in their lives. So why is it that I strive, strain and sometimes demand control?
In the book of Isaiah, we are told that when we wait for the Lord, things happen that wouldn’t otherwise happen. There is a renewing and an endurance that we don’t have when we trust in our own understanding and lean on our own strength. That is so counter-intuitive to what we do in trying to control things. Wait!?
Isaiah 40:31 says, "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
Why is my first response to capture and cage the eagle? Why do I want to say, "Stop! Hold on! Do you have the proper attire? Are you sure you are an eagle? What if your wings aren’t fully developed?"
Why do I desire this control? I crave a world that I can wrap my arms around. If I crave that type of a world, that is the world that I will receive. A small, controllable, sad, crippled eagle sitting in a small cage that I can manage.
This freedom in Christ depends upon where we put our trust. Waiting on the Lord is actively waiting for the expert. There is a responsibility for believers to be a wise stewards of what the expert has entrusted us. However, we must always trust in the Lord’s sovereignty, not only in word but in action, not only when we don’t know what to do but when we think we do.
Do you trust that the Lord is going to do something great? Do you trust that this trial will be used for your personal growth? Do you trust that the Lord will provide your every need? He is, He will, He does--every time. It often makes no sense in our logic. We shouldn’t ever be able to wrap our arms around it. It is alright if we can’t wrap our minds around it. But still we trust. Trust that He will make sense of tragedy and loss. Trust that He will provide when there seems to be no way. Believe that He will protect on journeys far from home and that He will use us to fulfill great works in Salem and around the world for His glory and His name. How is He going to do it? I don’t know and that is the fun of trusting and losing control.
May you “lose control” this week to the One who existed before anything else, and holds all creation together (Colossians 1:17).
Love ya,
Chris
