Recently I faced a situation outside my control. Big
joke. Everything is outside my control. But I continue to imagine that I can
manipulate people and events for an outcome of my choosing.
And here’s what I have learned. That I can trust my
Lord Jesus. I've learned that trust often feels scary and difficult because I give up my sense
of being in control, and especially I yield my sense of what the proper result should be. Jesus gets to decide, not me.
There’s another thing I’ve learned. That putting my trust in
myself or my closest friends or even my beloved family is fraught with
disappointment.
All of us, and I definitely include myself and even the ones I love and respect the most, all of us will revert to some self-protective behavior, some skewed way of thinking,
some destructive pattern, and betray ourselves and the people around us.
My wife reminded me the other day that all of us are like
cars with tires out of alignment. You know the feeling—you’re driving down the
freeway, but you have to keep muscling the steering wheel or the car will head
across lanes for the ditch. Without constant correction, we too will invariably
veer off course.
Jesus will not fail. He will accomplish His purposes—for His
glory and our good. He has no lesser nature, no carnal pattern, to which to
revert. His way is always full of light, true to His kindness and wisdom,
steady and on course. You may not have a map, but you can be sure He will never drive you into the ditch. And in the end He'll get you home.
By the way, my wife has written an excellent book on Trust Training: A Field Manual for Confident Trust in God Before, During and After Life's Battles. You can read a sample, or order it, by clicking on the title.
