The Benefit of Confessing Our Desire for Control
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“For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).
The key to this truth is the source of the strength. Christ gives us strength. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” There is healing in confessing our desire to control situations in our lives, and submitting instead to the strength we have in Christ to give us the restraint, patience, and self-control we need to wait on the Lord instead of taking matters into our own hands.
My journey as a mother won’t get easier in this life. There will be challenges, sickness and hardship which I cannot prevent from happening to my children. But there will also be inexplicable joy only He can accomplish for them. Paul wrote:
“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4).
The fear of losing control will rob us of the peace Christ died to give us. He has given us life to the full. “Trying to take control of what can’t be ultimately controlled, we set ourselves up for fearfulness in times of inevitable trouble,” Kristen Wetherell wrote for The Gospel Coalition. “Since Jesus is Lord, we don’t have to be.” Because of Jesus, we can embrace Paul’s words:
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6).
When we toss and turn at night, stomachs churning over hurt we cannot heal and things out of our control, the Lord is with us. We do not lie awake alone. He is there with us. Jesus is so worthy. God is so faithful. He sees what lies in the darkness, and His army of angels battle with us while we prayerfully fight. “God gives us the prescription for anxiety- and that is prayer,” the Bible Study Tools Staff explains, “we cannot understand supernatural peace until we surrender our mind to God’s ways and thoughts.”
In all things, we are called to lead in love, as Jesus does. He leads us to peace which surpasses all understanding, not anxious thoughts which keep us awake through the night. There will be trouble in this world, pain we cannot prevent. But God is bigger. His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts. And so our reaction is this:
“In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone” (2 Peter 1:5-7).
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