If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.  Matthew 16:25 NLT

How often do we ask God to make things easy on us and to let us make all the major decisions? Thankfully, God doesn’t usually answer these prayers. “When we choose to stay in control, we are choosing to be controlled by something other than God,” says Cynthia Heald. “Although it seems safe and logical to be in charge of your life, it becomes a heavy responsibility.” [1]

Our tendency is to want to mastermind our destinies and those of our loved ones. In Genesis, a woman named Rebekah became obsessed with orchestrating her son, Jacob’s, life, despite having already experienced God’s superior planning. She devised a plan to trick her husband Isaac into giving Jacob a family inheritance that was meant for their other son. Rebekah was successful in her own scheme, but deceit then plagued her son, Jacob’s, life.

Our own plans to “help” others can be manipulative. We become unable to hold together all the webs we weave. Learning to release our grip on the future is a process, but as Corrie ten Boom advised: “Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” [2] Surrendering to God brings a lightness and peace that our own plans typically lack. What a relief it is to leave the responsibility of control for both our lives and the lives of those we love, to Him!

Resource reading:  Proverbs 3:1-8

 

[1] Heald, Cynthia. A Woman’s Journey to the Heart of God (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1997), 27.

[2] McDaniel, Debbie, “40 Powerful Quotes from Corrie Ten Boom.” Crosswalk.com. May 21, 2105. http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/inspiring-quotes/40-powerful-quotes-from-corrie-ten-boom.html, accessed November 30, 2016.