Relinquish

Relinquish

For who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?

“AND, I’M PRAYING THAT the mattresses we need will be donated for free.”

The moment I made the bold request, I knew I was in trouble. I was doing a short presentation for a group of fifty employees at a local nonprofit, having been introduced as helping lead their Christmas program in which local families are adopted by community members. Small needs like toys and clothes are met as well as the sometimes-bigger needs of furniture, household goods, and mattresses. There is a perennial, desperate need for mattresses, and while my audacious prayer was for something inherently good, I’d publicly put God on the spot without hearing from him first and without pausing to ask whether this was his will. It was my plan, and I was asking God to do my will, publicly.

Just because we are well intentioned doesn’t mean we can hijack God’s sovereignty, demanding he do things our way, in our timing. And I’d forgotten that for a moment, running ahead of God because people needed mattresses and I knew God could do it. What I failed to ask God is if he would do it, and in the manner in which I’d just so boldly declared.

Oh, how I came to regret my hasty words. No mattresses, free or otherwise, materialized that Christmas season, despite my best efforts. And while the myriad of other needs were met, finding a partner for mattresses crashed and burned. And, faced with repentance, I tearfully relinquished control back to God, where it always should have been in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong, God is good and he absolutely answers prayers. But I’d arrogantly put his name on the line with my public declaration centering attention on me, without prayerfully seeking his plan. As someone who has a gift for problem-solving, it was a powerful, humbling lesson in relinquishing control, remembering that God is sovereign, and his way is always better, even if it doesn’t always make sense in the moment.

Lord, forgive us our attempts to control you and your plan. Help us to relinquish control, prayerfully asking you to show us the next steps to take. Amen.

-Julie

One Good Step: Make a list of the things you are attempting to control in your life. In what ways is God asking you to relinquish control in each situation?