2043 Trust and Control

What you don’t trust, you will try to control. If you don’t trust someone in your family, you will try to control them. If you don’t trust your dog, you will try to control it. If you have a high tech car that can drive itself, but you don’t trust it – you will control it yourself. And if you don’t trust God, you will try to control your life. When you don’t trust God to get it right, you will assume the position of having to force everything for yourself. When you don’t trust God’s timing, you’ll try to control the timing. When you don’t trust God’s plan, you will follow the plan you can control. A controlling person is a distrusting person. A distrusting person becomes a controlling person. I trust my dog. He is trained, he is obedient and he stays close. Because of that, when possible, he is off leash. I no longer have to control him because I can trust him. I trust God. He has always been faithful to me. His promises have held true every single time. I no longer put God in my little box of limited understanding because I trust him. How about you? Are you in a place in your life where you full on, face to the floor, open hands, absolute surrender, TRUST GOD? If you are – do you notice how your need to control things has just faded away? When faith rules, the need to control fades. Where faith takes the throne, the need for control quietly falls to its knees. Control must bow to my faith instead of faith bowing to my control. As we study the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis, we see the most genuine example of trusting God regardless of circumstances. While Joseph couldn’t see how being sold into slavery would ever be remotely okay, he trusted God. While Joseph couldn’t see how being falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit and being thrown in prison could be a good thing, he trusted God. He never tried to control the situation or the outcome, instead wherever he was and whatever was going on around him, he did his best. How do we know Joseph did his best? While Joseph is in prison, Genesis 39:23 says, “The prison warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.” God didn’t just make things work – No, Joseph worked and God brought the success. Joseph did everything in that prison. All the work – more than was required. Joseph brought his best and God brought the blessings. But when we find ourselves in an unfair, difficult or unwanted situation, here’s what we do – “GOD, GET ME OUT OF THIS MESS. I DON’T DESERVE THIS!” We throw our pity party and wait for the rescue. We don’t work hard. We don’t give our best effort. No we typically get pitiful, then we grow miserable, then we become bitter. Pitiful, miserable and bitter because we can’t control it. In all of God’s word, I’ve never seen him bless pitiful. I’ve never seen him bless chosen misery. I’ve never seen him pour out his blessings on the bitter. But for the one who will trust him and do their best in the unfair, in the difficult, and in the unwanted – THEN HE BLESSES. For Joseph, God continually responded to his trust and best effort with success. Success to get out of the pit. Success in his master’s house. Success in the prison cell. And eventually, success in the palace. Joseph didn’t seek control. He sought God’s control. When you know the end of Joseph’s story and you see he ends up wildly successful in a palace, saving his own family that tried to harm him, it becomes easy to read the hard parts and see how God was working. But as the story was unfolding, Joseph had no idea where it was all leading. He didn’t know what God was doing. Yet he trusted. I don’t know the whole story of my life. I have not seen how these hard parts will be used – but I trust they will. I don’t know how God is going to work all this out – but I trust he will. I don’t know how this is going to one day be good – but I trust when he says he has good plans for my life, they will be good. My trust demands my hands to open and relinquish control. Now, how about you? Will you open your hands and trust God to get this right? Will you stop trying to control it and instead be faithful in it? Will you first give your best so then God can bless it? Here’s the problem – we start assuming what a good God should do, then we try to hold God accountable to our plan. Oh what disappointment we set ourselves up for when we create the plan for God and try to hold him to it. My friend, it simply doesn’t work that way. Our eyes have not seen, our ears have not heard, and our minds have not even imagined the things God has prepared for those who love him. Our wildest dreams don’t even come close to God’s good plans for our lives – so how could we ever assume what a good God should do? Would a good God allow a 17 year old boy to be betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery? Actually – yes. Because God always saw how it would be used for good. Would a good God allow that man to be falsely accused and thrown into prison for a crime he didn’t commit? Actually – yes. Because God always saw how it would be used for good. These are not plans we would choose on our own. We want to skip to the palace part. We want to avoid every pit and every problem and go straight to our palace, but our good God knows good plans include the pits. If you’re down in the pits, remember this – you have a GOOD GOD. That good God can’t be controlled by your plans. Instead, we trust his plans are better than our own and we know every part of the story will be used. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com