Fighting for Control

Praise be to the Lord,
    for he has heard my cry for mercy.
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
    my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
    and with my song I praise him.  Psalm 28:6-7

The other day I got a scare.  Not the type of scare that you yourself have to face.  But rather, one that is faced by one closest to you.  In my case, it was my wife.  As I struggled to deal with the potential worse outcomes, tears came down my cheek.  Then, as my fears began to run rapid, I realized that I had no control over the situation.  But God did.  I just prayed for wisdom and strength.  You see, many people like myself do well going against the odds because we believe we are in control.  However, when it is someone dear to you, you realize just how little control you have.  It is then that you reach to God and ask for Him to do what we cannot; take over.

True strength comes from surrendering all to God.  While we all know our judgment day will come, we walk through life anticipating that it will come when the time is right.  We hold out hope that it will be on our terms.  However, none of us are promised tomorrow, and as I learned this week, even the day does not guarantee we will be able to lay down by our choosing.  Thus, we have two choices.  We can continue to believe that we have the power, or we can lay our trust in the one who I call ‘The Great Healer,’ to strengthen us.  While many believe the former, those who love God know ultimately that His will trumps all, and true strength lies in the living God through whom all things are possible.

God understands more than we can possibly imagine.  We ask for understanding as to why we go through what we do, and we realize that deep inside, we already know.  God’s strength is true power.  Who will you rely on when the odds are against you?  How will you trust in God’s strength above your own?  My prayer is that we learn to rely on His strength above all and stop fighting with God for control of things.  Amen.