When To Say 'When'

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6

All of us have heard the serenity prayer, but just in case you do not remember, it goes like this:

God grant me the serenity

             to accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

Thinking about this, the struggle becomes where does the wisdom part kick in?  One of the toughest things that we must do as Christians is knowing when to let God take control.  There are relationships that I will fight tirelessly to fix or situations that I spend seemingly endless hours trying to get done.  In my early walk of faith, my belief was if I just willed myself enough, it would get done saying to myself Philippians 4:13 (I can do all this through him who gives me strength).  As my spiritual growth expanded, I learned some situations called on my leaning on God as Jesus in Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  But which one applies when?

One purpose of our journey of faith is learning exactly when to say ‘when.’  One of the great truths that I have learned from leadership is that there are some problems that can’t be solved, and some tensions that are never resolved.  They are situations that must be managed.  Serenity is exactly like this, and wisdom is our experiences that allow for us to know when to drive and when to let God handle it.  Everyone's ability to handle a situation varies.  One person might be better equipped to handle a financial crisis, and another could be more adept at dealing with emotional distress.  It does not matter where you are strong or weak.  It matters to know what your limit is and when to accept God’s handling of it.

God is all knowing, and His wisdom is far greater than our own understanding.  Knowledge of this allows for us to trust Him in all things.  Through prayer, we gain clarity of what God wants for us, and we are able to know when God will either give us strength or require our submittal to His will.  How will your level of serenity grow spiritually?  Which sides of the equation do you need greater understanding; strength or submittal?  My prayer is that we grow with experience to discern when to say ‘when.’  Amen.