Sometimes I worry about everything going on in the world, like I gotta fix it.  Like I have the power!  When that doesn't work, I clean something: usually the bathroom, that spot I can't seem to remove.  It’s dumb.  Here’s the deal - We’re not in control.  There is someone who is, but it's not me - aren’t you glad?  Hey, it's not you either - Colossians 1:17 says Christ is "before all things, and in Him all things hold together."  

Though it’s hard to believe, the "all things" mentioned in that verse includes our personal (often silent) struggles - there is no situation outside the reign of Jesus. God already knows how He's going to work all things out.  With plans that include drawing us closer, refining our faith, and making us more like Himself, we can rest assured that He'll do what's immeasurably better.  Though I know these truths, and I'm quick to say God is in control.  I'm sluggish to rest in His sovereignty.  I'm slow to trust that God is God.

God is God whether we treat Him as such or not and there is an avalanche of blessings on the other side of surrender and trust.  The gift of letting God be God is that we can relax, knowing we're in faithful and loving hands.  We don't have to panic.  We can trust in God's perfect plan for our lives.

On the flip side, when I'm not acknowledging that God is God, generally speaking, it's a disaster.  The stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (and more) can testify to that.  There is peace when I truly surrender to God's will.  Not only that, but I can rest in the middle of chaos when I allow God to fight for me.  And then, my testimony is as David’s even as he fled from his son Absalom: "I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me." (Psalm 3:5)

Whether it’s the Lord’s will that I proceed right or left or back or forward (or simply stay put), when I'm allowing God to be God, I wait for Him.  Isaiah 30:18 says, "Blessed are all those who wait for Him."  God can pave a path you didn't know existed.  The bottom line is this: my words will fail, but God's Word never does.  "The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable" (Isaiah 40:28)

Our first goal as followers of Christ is to know the Lord, for He's made Himself known.  Our second goal is to surrender to His will.  There may be seasons of waiting, and to be sure, obedience will be required (by the truckload), but one thing's for sure:  it's always better to let God be God.

Tom