*Old Testament: Job 7 & 8
*Poetry: Psalm 34
*New Testament: John 14
It is not unusual for me to carry around a Ziploc bag full of fruits and vegetables as I meander across the cafeteria crunching through school lunch. A few years ago, I made changes for the sake of my health, improving my diet and exercising regularly. I dropped some weight, I felt better, and I was healthier in my late 30s than in the whole of my 20s. I had finally mastered my body once and for all; however, this control was an illusion.
Early this summer I experienced significant changes to my health. My heart was beating out of control. I went from marathon running to huffing and puffing up the short flight of stairs at my house. I was sweaty, panicked, and dropping pounds no matter what I ate. I was heading, as I now know, full-throttle into a thyroid storm and quickly losing the gains that I had worked so hard to maintain. It was then I was given this sobering reminder: I’m not in control; not even a little bit.
Throughout the course of this week, my goal is to focus on trusting God’s plan. The rain equally falls on the just and the unjust, but we often fix our gaze on our wet shoes in the puddles and mud. This is where we find Job in Chapter 7. He ponders the calamities that befall him, and even torment him in his sleep. He is looking for a reason that God has placed him in this circumstance and even “targeted” him (v.20), removing his wealth, health, and happiness. In what looks like an ironic spin of Psalm 8, Job asks “What is mankind, that you make so much of them? That you give them so much attention?” It is a fair question. Why would God place so much attention on my life, seemingly ruining it, especially when I have put in so much time, effort, and energy into making something good?
We find our focus in the lens of eternity. When we surrender our lives to Christ, our possessions, our status, our health, and the whole of our lives are assets of the Gospel message. There is profound peace in the perfect plan of our Heavenly Father, but it requires us to relax the white knuckle grip we have over the course of our life. We must surrender in faith, fully trusting that our storm, our season, our suffering is for the glory of God. Psalm 34 states when we seek the Lord, our fears are quelled (v. 4) and in His time, he will deliver us (v. 6, 17, 19, & 22). While it is hard not to let our hearts be troubled (John 14:1), God is still good in our struggle, and for many of us, more present to taste and see it, when we are broken, poor, ill, hungry, or in peril.
When things seem out of control, we have to realize they were never in our hands. Thinking we have the power to redeem or fix our struggle alone means we are intoxicated with our own glory, one that will ultimately fail. Conversely, if we hand our lives over to Christ, declaring our lives are forfeit for His glory in faith, God will use us in a way that will infinitely diminish what we can accomplish by ourselves. Thank God, I am not in control, and His perfect will can redeem us all.
“I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.” – Psalm 34:1-2
-Aaron Winner
Reflection Questions
- What do you think and feel when you hear you are not in control?
- What evidence do you have to prove you are, or are not, in control?
- How can you bring glory to God, even if your feet are in (or have been in) a muddy puddle?
SeekGrowLove.com 