Letting Go

If you’re like most people, you like being in control. Period. You want things to happen according to your wishes and according to your timetable. But sometimes, God has other plans…and He always has the final word.

Oswald Chambers correctly observed, “Our Lord never asks us to decide for Him; He asks us to yield to Him—a very different matter.” These words remind us that even when we cannot understand the workings of God, we must trust Him and accept His will.

All of us experience adversity and pain. As human beings with limited comprehension, we can never fully understand the will of the Father in heaven. But as believers in a benevolent God, we must always trust His guidance and provision.

When Jesus one to the Mount of Olives, as described in Luke 22, He poured out His heart to God. Jesus knew of the agony that He was destined to endure, but He also knew that God’s will must be done. We, like our Savior, face trials that bring fear and trembling to the very depths of our souls, but like Christ, we too must ultimately seek God’s will, not our own.

I was watching the news a couple of days ago and a guy was being interviewed about losing his job due to COVID-19. His words and body language indicated he expected the government to pay him now since it was no fault of his own. So many times, that’s our attitude. We look for ways to change our journey that will not cost us anything.

Are you embittered by a personal tragedy that you did not deserve and cannot understand? If so, it’s time to make peace with life. It’s time to forgive others and if necessary to forgive yourself. It’s time to accept the unchangeable past, to embrace the priceless present, and to have faith in the promise of tomorrow. It’s time to trust God completely. And it’s time to reclaim the peace—His peace—that can and should be yours.

God says in Isaiah 43:18-19, “Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don’t you see it? I will make a road in the desert and rivers in the dry land.” May you experience His peace and discover how to let go. Blessings on your journey.