Whose Hands Are at the Controls?

Are you a control freak? Does something inside of you want to be in charge? Do you prefer a safe, stable environment where nothing changes and everything goes your way?

You'd better get over it. This is not a Burger King world where you can have it your way.

If I had it my way, my metabolism would be the same at age 50 as it was at age 20. If I had it my way, my house would never need repairs and premium ice cream would contain no fat grams.

But a lot of things are out of my control. Jesus asked, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:27). Another possible translation is, "Who of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his height?" Worry can't make me taller or lengthen my life. If anything, it can shorten my life!

I can't control . . . The weather, The stock market, The news, or The past.

I can't make . . . Every traffic light green, Every bad person nice, Every body cell healthy, Every atheist believe.

I can't control how others . . . Think, drive, vote— Or how they treat me.

I can't change . . . The outcome of a football game by yelling at the TV, My muscle tone by reading a book about exercise, or Another person's heart simply by telling him he ought to change.

I can't control . . . What gasoline costs, What the United Nations decides, or What terrorists do.

But I am not powerless. I can choose . . . How I will react to my circumstances, and what I will do with my opportunities.

I can decide that I will . . . Trust and obey the Lord, and Use the gifts God has given me.

I can contribute . . . To causes I believe in and To people I care about.

I can pray, and when I do, I participate in the grand scheme of events in ways beyond my comprehension. My prayers do not manipulate God, but they do make a difference. C. S. Lewis said one reason God wants us to pray is so that we can experience "the dignity of causality." We are not puppets on a string, mindless robots acting out a pre-scripted drama. Through prayer, God allows us to share in the powerful process of bringing reconciliation to our broken world.

In prayer I can cast all my cares on the Lord . . . Choosing to trust his grace, Rely on his love, Believe his promises.

God didn't go on vacation and leave me in charge, but he has given me the ability to choose. And the most important choice I can make is simply to say to the Father with all my heart, "Thy will be done."