for the control freaks

Let’s go back. Let’s rewind to the days when everything was easier.

Do you ever think this? I do. All. The. Time. Every time things get hard, I wish to go back. Far far back. Have you ever stopped to think why this is? Why is it we all “miss the days when ____”? My dad said something so wise: we want to go back because it is more comfortable than what is unknown ahead. I have been reading “Get Out of Your Head” by Jennie Allen (DROP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND BUY IT NOW), and I have been continually convicted about this idea. I have believed the lie that comfort is better than whatever is ahead because comfort is in my control.

Let me give you some background if you don’t know me: I am a control freak. I admit that 100%. I am a planner, type A to the nth degree, perfectionist, and NOT a huge risk taker. To some extent, those things can be good. They keep me responsible (most of the time), they keep me on top of things, and, most importantly, they keep me in charge of my future. I want to know what the next step is. No, I want to know what every step is. For most of my life this has worked well for me. For most of my life I have enjoyed the false pleasure of my tightened grasp.

Have any of you ever done a grip strength test? They are usually at arcades or carnivals, and they always have a way of humbling you. My grip is so wimpy despite my greatest efforts. Although, no matter how strong your grip may be, there will always come a point where it will give out. It will fail you. I think of the movies where someone is hanging onto the edge of a cliff about to fall. It always shows, slowly, one finger at a time, their grip giving way. What happens next usually? Out of nowhere, right as they loose their grip, a hand comes to rescue them from death.

This image has been vivid in my mind. I have felt my grip going, one finger at a time, one trial at a time. All of the sudden, the strength of my grip was failing. The same strength that had kept me in complete control for so long. It had kept me comfortable. That is not the life destined for those who have found life in Jesus. We are not meant to be gods. God is meant to be God. What a relief that is. Jennie Allen made a point about the realization that we are not in control that has stuck with me: “joy comes when we lay aside our power and rest in God’s.”

Earlier I mentioned how most movies give you the idea that whoever is hanging off the edge will fall. How often have we been there in our own lives? God has a way of being that hand that comes right when we need it. No sooner and no later. Right on time. Corrie Ten Boom’s father illustrated this perfectly in “The Hiding Place” by reminding Corrie that he doesn’t give her the ticket to where she needs to go on a train until right before they board.

How beautiful is that thought.

God has not abandoned us. God won’t let us fall. All we need do is have faith that when we loosen our grip, we will take hold of Him. Have the faith to fall.