Control

Are you a control freak? Are you the kind of
person who has to have an on/off switch for everything? I have some good news
for you—well, some of it good, and some of it bad. Which do you want first?

You want the bad first? OK here goes; many things are out of our ability to
control. So, can we define which and which not? Yes, all things that
re-create me as “God” situationally are not, my dear friends, consented
to, going forward. I can never hold my stuff’s control to the extent that God
does, and this registers bad news for some. It means; I can never predict or dictate
a situation’s outcome, or pull things together by some power-demonstration
which pushes all to finally perform their duty, enabling the problem to simply
work itself out.

Did you notice how that many problems are because others are just not doing
their thing right? —either that, or God is not doing His part right, or my
medication is not doing its thing right, etc. Somebody or something is just not
acting the right way and we wish to control the thing, or at least try. Hence, the
bad news: God will never let us take His sovereign place over the
universe  and I am so glad.

Well, tell us some good news. OK, the good side says “God will give me plenty
of control to assume my proper role as “receiver” of His own superlative
handling of the deal. What does this mean? It means I can take the Bible and
find explicit directions about my precise response-ability, including implementation
instructions. In fact, all will spell itself out which pertains to me, inside
of that Book. So, my proper responsive posture for all incidents, events,
crisis, and circumstances, once put into practice, positions me at the
open door of God’s intervening.

Let’s examine a passage where a man had this understanding down pat through
experience. In 1Samuel 30 we have a great story. David and his mighty men
return to Ziglag and find all of their families and stuff over-ridden and
stolen away. Some of David’s men and the people wanted to stone him, but David
encouraged himself in the Lord. 

This encouraging, often skipped over, became
the vital lesson of the story. See, David wept with the rest of the men and his
soul also emanated pain. But, unlike the others, he built courage into himself.
Courage to fight? At this point, maybe just the courage to think, and pray and
speak, painstakingly needed re-built. 

Have you ever been there? We may need courage
to just go on, to not quit, to find a way of hope against hope’s dwindle, Maybe
we are like the 200 who couldn’t find the physical strength to fight, even when
God gave a plan and directive to David. 

See, blows from these kinds of ordeals
penetrate deeper. Heart, subconscious, value system, innate design, etc. must
absorb the disturbing, and threat of wounding pierce. It must be at these
levels that we are able to withstand and maintain equilibrium, integrity,
flexibility. I must see the challenge correctly, and if I can, I will next
discern the proper resources needed. God wants to strengthen, establish, and
settle you now.

This inner world, frankly, is much more significant
than the little world of reeling in my external happenings. This sphere, God
powerfully invades at request, and the outer results overflow. O, don’t
think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but thing soberly, as
God has given every man the measure of faith.

So, back to our story; David’s great
leadership in prayer and self-encouraging enabled God Himself to get involved,
and the one real Hope for real solutions, spoke, and said “go.”

Thankfully, many of David’s men devoted
themselves to him, and with the directive of God, followed God in him, and pursued
their families. God led them to a forsaken Egyptian man who in turn led them to
the plunderers, The heroes recovered everything.

The story has one more twist: the 400 who
went and battled felt it an injustice to divide their recovered spoils with the
200 famished brothers who stayed back at the brook, Besor. O boy, here we
go again with the control thing! They still were not able to distinguish that
God’s ultimate enabling performed this deliverance. It was not their great
strength or fortitude which turned the victory, but God which giveth
mercy. 

Finally, our main point; God has not left us
without answers and has lovingly recognized our need for control. This is fine,
as long as we figure on the limits of this jurisdiction. Humbling our self,
praying, building up ourselves and finding the comfort of the Scriptures are
all part of the preparation of the heart, which enables the answer of Our
Savior to move. We can operate in these things with poise and confidence. 

All the promises of God in Him are yea and in
Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us, is a great Bible verse. At the throne of grace we will find
grace to help in time of need, and as David discovered, the mercies of God are
sure, and new every morning. Happy Easter Amen!