Acknowledging Who's in Control
Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight your deliverance. "There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. "Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed. "The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away. "The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. "For the foundations of the earth are the LORD's; upon them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. "It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth. "He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed." (1 Samuel 2:1-10)
I'm a control freak. It makes me crazy not to be in control of a situation. I hate to ride in a car when someone else is at the wheel because I don't trust their driving. I can't stand to fly because I have to give over control to some pilot I don't know – a pilot who may have had a fight with his wife right before the flight, or who has been skimming by on his physicals or who is careless. If I had joined the military, I'd probably have been court marshaled at a very early age. And for every President this country has had since I was born, I can give you a list of hundreds of things I'd have done differently!
My nature is to want to be in charge, to be in control of every situation, to make things happen. And I spent the first thirty years of my life trying to work my way to heaven, being frustrated at every turn because I never could quite get it right. I kept fouling up and dropping back three rungs on the ladder. So I'd try again, absolutely certain that if I just worked hard enough, if I had enough self-control, if I just took the situation in hand, I could do it.
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Then Jesus came into my life at the ripe old age of 30. Suddenly, He was in control of my life – and I did not like it! I kept trying to take back the reigns, certain that I knew what was best for me. Besides, He had enough to deal with considering all the world's problems – things much more serious than my life. I guess the Lord finally got his fill of my attitude, because He brought me to my knees and forced me to acknowledge Who was in control. And you know what? I love it! Not to say He doesn't make me crazy sometimes! Because He never does things the way I expect Him to. But always – always – His way turns out to be a thousand times better than my preconceived notion of how He should have done it!
Hannah wasn't quite the hard case I was. She was fully aware of who was in control, and she sang His praises in this song – called the Magnificat of the Old Testament (compare it to Mary's song in Luke 1:46-55, called the Magnificat of the New Testament). She acknowledged God as the controller of all things, great and small.
If you're a control freak, it's time to let go. It's time to acknowledge that you really can't control anything. You can't control your boss, or your spouse, or your ex-spouse, or the stock market, or your employees, or the weather, or even whether you take another breath or not. So why don't you just give up? He's in control whether you like it or not. You can't change that fact, no matter how much you dislike it.
Take it from me … once you acknowledge that God is in control in all things, your burdens will become light as a feather.
From Newsong Ministries
Newsong6@bellsouth.net
Used with Permission.
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