In His Timing- His Way!

It’s so easy to say you’re not in control and then go about being in charge. False humility is such a deceptive foe. Let’s face it. We’ve all learned how to manipulate. We’ve done it so well that we’ve convinced ourselves that it’s really good for us to be in control since we know what’s best for everyone. After all we’re fair and we know what God’s will is for every situation. What a shame to let such a gift go to waste. Our religion is the only one(onle true one of course)! Our denomination is the right one. Our defintion of God is the pure and perfect one. And we’re so blessed to know and have it all that it would really be a sin to not make make sure that everyone else thought like we do.

We should all hold fast in what we believe! But we surely should not think we have a right to tell others what they ought to believe. But, we do! And when we do, we’ve put ourselves back in the drivers seat. We’re so blind to our control nature that Christians put bumper stickers on the back of their cars that read “God is my co-pilot“.

And we simply don’t see it or get what we’re saying!

We don’t want anything but success: however, it’s in Adullum’s cave that we find God. It’s in the tests and tribulations that we discover what we’re really made of and how well we don’t do NOT being in control! As Robert Mulholland put it, “What we don’t realize is that often a period of apparent spiritual stagnation, a time in which we don’t feel as if we are going anywhere, a phase of life in which our relationship with God seems weak or nonexistent, the time of dryness, of darkness- what the mothers and fathers of the church speak of the desert experience- is filled with nuturing down below the surface we never see.”

And we never want to see it!

Our culture has trained us to not take anything lying down. Get up on your feet and fight! Go for the gusto! You can have it your way! You deserve a break today! You’ve heard it all. But, have you heard the spirit behind it? It’s all about ME being in control. It’s a silly thought to start with; however, we can even con ourselves into thinking we really are in control. And when we are, we’ll never go places where God is waiting- the broken places.

Francois, Fenelon, French spiritual writer nailed it when he said, “God hies His work, in the spiritual order as in the natural order under an unnoticable sequence of events.” Following Him every now and then is sacry enough, But, to allow Him to be in control of your life when all isn’t well, when all hell is breaking out around you, and when you are sick and tired of waiting for God to do something isn’t something our egos like. ABC may be God’s plan for us, but when? When is as important as what!

And don’t forget to ask Him how!

I’m not saying you sit on your derriere and do nothing. That’s the cousin to false humility. Her name is poor me, who has a twin sister named pity me.

Here’s the deal. God doesn’t want you to ask Him if you can brush your teeth, breathe, or take a bath. But He wants you to walk with Him and learn His commands: know His voice as John 10 says. Life simply works better when we let Him lead. So, next time you think about putting a bumper sticker on your back bumper, maybe “God is my pilot” would be more appropriate.