This weekend I was able to enjoy a trip to the lake with a wonderful family and a couple of friends. While we were there we had the chance to swim, wake board, water ski, tube, cliff jump into the water below us, and many other things. However, it was not until we returned that God showed me some amazing truths and parallels to His way of working in us and the very things we were able to do.
Being the control freak that I am I grab on to situations and things in my life rather than let them go and allow God to work. He has shown me it causes me far more pain to hold on then to let go. One of the things I enjoyed doing this weekend was wake boarding. I only tried it a couple of times and failed miserably. Yet, I loved it! When trying to wake board you are supposed to hold on to a bar connected to a rope that is connected to the boat while you are floating in the water with a board attached to your feet. The driver of the boat will then take off at a significant speed to get you standing vertical in the water, similar to surfing only you are attached to a boat. Well, during one of my few attempts the boat started to go and I was pulled under the water. If I would not have let go I could have drowned myself. Yet, I realized being under the water was not a goal and my body screamed, “LET GO!” So I let go. I did not want to drown or get rope burn from the rope attached to the bar. Often times in life I try to control my situations and try to hang on to a particular area of those situations until I get rope burn from holding on so tightly as God tries to show me that it is just going to drag me under. My stubbornness turns into scrapes, bruises, cuts, burns, and eventually scars. Just like a parent God cannot make those burns and such go away. Our parents try and treat the wound and keep it from scaring as badly. We will always have a memory of whatever happened that caused that scar. God is not going to just take all of it away, what would we ever learn if He just took it away? We would continually do the same thing over and over again because we did not ever learn the lesson He intended for us to learn. Just like in science, “for every action there is an equal reaction.” It is the same in life. For every action we take or thought we think there is an equal reaction. God is a graceful and forgiving God. He is also a just, righteous, and holy God. In Habakkuk 1:13 we are shown that God cannot look upon evil “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor.” Since God cannot look upon evil with favor and realizing that sin is evil and realizing that being controlling is a sin we realize that being controlling also is evil. God cannot look upon my evil with favor. Any sin that we commit is evil. He cannot look on any of our sins with favor. Thus we have to repent. Once we repent we are still going to have to deal with the affect of the committed sin. Just because we repent does not mean it will go away. Just like when we get a rope burn or other injuries. Once you treat it with Neosporin or a band aid, does not mean it is immediately going to go away and leave no scaring.
We are left to deal with our junk even after going to God. He is the one who walks us through and shows us how to avoid situations like the one we were involved in that caused the need for repentance. God does not want us to suffer, just like our parents do not want us to suffer or go through things that are difficult. God wants us to have faith in Him and trust that whatever it is that we are clinging to that it is far better if we let it go. We are basically saying that we are afraid to let the God of the universe take care of our problems and would rather try and fix it our self. God is just waiting for us to ask Him for His help. He is not a controlling father who is going to jump in and completely take over what we are doing. We have to ask Him for help. And when we ask Him for help we have to completely let go of the situation and give it to Him. We cannot be trying to touch or control any part of it. Once we ask for God to be in control, we need to get out of the drivers seat and sit in the back. We are along for the ride. Matthew 7:7-11 tells us if we ask it will be given to us. It also tells us about a good father providing the needs of his children, “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” James 4:1-8 tells us that we cause arguments and we fights because we do not have things, yet we do not ask God for these things. We are missing what God wants us to do. He does not want us to try and cling to things, He wants to be a loving Father. We just have to ask Him for the things we want. We have to be willing to let them go for a while and wait on His timing.
God is perfect. He has perfect timing. Even when it is hardest for us to see why He has us in the season we are in, we have to trust that He is doing something. We should continue seeking Him and spending time in His word and being around His people and sharing with those who do not know Him. We are only to give up the things we are clinging to and lay them in His possession to take care of the matter for us. He is the ultimate mechanic who can and will fix the things we give Him. He will give us guidance. He is the greatest Father anyone could ever ask for. He will pull us into His arms and let us sit in His lap as we whimper from the wound. He will comfort us and hold us as we heal, as He heals us. Healing is a process and therefore takes time. He is with us for all of that time.
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