Let Go and Let God: Giving Up Control So You're Never Out of Control

I've had a spiritual revelation recently: Not being in control does not mean you are out of control. In fact, the need to feel like you are in control is often the source of being out of control.

If you believe in God's word, then you also believe that you do not know what's best for you. The Bible tells us:

1. Not to lean on our own understanding

   (Proverbs 3:5 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.)

2. My ways are not His ways

   (Isaiah 55:8-9 "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.")

   (MSG version: "I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work." God's Decree. "For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.")

3. Let God change the way you think

   (Romans 12:2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.)

   (MSG: Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out.)

4. Let go of the weight of control

   (Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.)

5. A path of life and light

   (John 8:12 The TPT - Then Jesus said, "I am light to the world, and those who embrace me will experience life-giving light, and they will never walk in darkness.")

These verses justify that while the world around you fights to control their lives, we should, through faith, be built differently and give up control. As we do, we will be freed up of time and effort that was used to fight the unwinnable fight of control that had significantly slowed us down. Instead, we can use that energy to healthily and joyfully run the race God has called us to run.

Since this is the case, as I stated at the start, for our lives to be in perfect control, we must be out of control. While that's the case, we must choose Who is in control.

Option 1 - Me: When I am in control, I feel like I have things under control, until I don't! When life life's and things turn upside down, I get slapped in the face with the reality that I don't have control, which leads to overwhelming panic and desperation.

Option 2 - Others and the world around you: When you allow others to control you, you may feel temporary comfort and safety, but like when you are in control, when life life's you will be slapped in the face with the reality of knowing that unless God is in control, you will eventually be out of control. Additionally, when you give the world around you control, that becomes your god, which guides you away from God and His will of safety, joy, peace, and protection.

Option 3 - Give control to God: Then you will remain on His path of life-giving light, even in the midst of the dark world around you!