Control

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.  Matthew 6:33

I am having a bit of a dilemma today.  I am trying to figure out why it is so difficult for me to give up control and allow God to completely lead my life. I have gotten to the point that I can do this in most areas but in some areas it is just hard.  I know the Father knows what is best for me.  In His providence He has already laid out the provision based on His promise.  Yet and still I find myself involving myself a little too much in the life that I surrendered to the Lord twenty-five years ago.  Now some of you may be reading this wondering what I am talking about.  Maybe you haven't looked at it this way.  Basically what I am talking about is the level of faith I have varies based on certain parts of my life. When I am sick or a family member becomes sick, I have strong faith.  But in the area of finances sometimes my faith is a little shaky.  There are times I lie awake at night wondering how I am going to make ends meet.  There are times I  have a hard time keeping my mouth closed and letting my husband lead because I think I know what is best.  But if I am praying for God  to lead him and I know that God got us then why am I worried.  Control is a funny thing.  I remember as a child I couldn't wait to grow up so that I could have control of my life and now I wonder what was I thinking.  How much better my life was when my parents were taking care of everything.  I remember my mom giving me her tithes when she was sick and couldn't make it to church.  There were times were we didn't have a lot but she always gave God His first.  And even in the roughest times we never went without. I know now that it was nothing but God providing for us.

I have been thinking alot about God's divine order.  You see, in the beginning when God created the heaven and the earth He had a 'divine order'.  First He created man and then He created woman.  Now we can make all the jokes we want about how He created woman because He made a mistake with man among other things but at the end of the day, we were designed to be our mates helpmate.  But let me back up a moment.  Before He gave man a helpmate He made him responsible over all the living things.  In other words He gave Him a job so that He might provide for His family.  We find out about this in the book of Genesis and as I look at the world today I see how far we have gotten away from this.  The verse above is one that I quote on a regular basis especially when I find myself worrying about different things.  In this verse we are reminded once again about God's Divine Order.  First and foremost, we are to seek Him first.  Before you get out of bed, say Good morning to your spouse or your kids,  talk to anyone at work, we are to commune with our Heavenly Father.  Ask Him what His plan is for us on this day.  Praying for wisdom, direction, discernment.  Asking him to let no ill word come out of our mouth except what is good for building up.  (I can't tell you how many unnecessary arguments I could have avoided if I had done just this one thing.)  Instead I am hardheaded, thinking I can make it on my own.  Silly me to think that there are situations that I don't need to Lord to guide me.  And what about you.  What areas have you not given over to the Lord completely, making your life more difficult than it needs to me?  Make a list and then ask God to help you to turn those things over to Him.  One thing that I have found is that the instructions we receive from God are always for our benefit.  He never intended for us to go through life so stressed out and worried all the time.  Yes we will have trials and tribulations but when he trust Him and have faith even those don't seem as bad.  The next time you find yourself worrying about tomorrow stop and ask yourself have you given that problem over to God. 

Most Gracious Heavenly Father,

Thank you for just being God. I find myself learning new meanings of what that means daily.  Whether you are my Provider, my Rock, my Waymaker, my Confidante,  I realize that You have been everything I need.  Help me to rely more on You.  Let me not lean unto my own understanding.  I believe that You know what is best for me.  Help me to walk in the path that You have laid out for me.  When I am tempted to try and take back control, remind me that there is no need.  You got this!  I will forever give Your name the glory, honor and the praise.  In Jesus' Wonderful Name I pray Amen.