“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
In Driver’s Ed classes, teenagers that are learning to drive for the first time do so in a special car. This car has the usual steering wheel, gas pedal, and brake on the driver’s side, but it also has an extra brake pedal on the passenger’s side for the instructor to use in case of an emergency. If the student driver forgets to hit the brake on time, the instructor can avoid a collision by using their extra brake.
Many of us want to be in the driver’s seat of our own lives. We like being in control. We decide when to go forward, backward, or turn. We decide when to speed up and slow down. We decide when to stop completely. We want control. The only problem is, we don’t have the map. Whether we like to admit it or not, we don’t know what’s coming in our lives. We don’t know what life will bring our way or what obstacles will end up in our path. How can you drive the car effectively if you don’t even know where your destination is? The answer is that you can’t.
As Christians, we believe that God ought to be in control of our lives. Many of us are comfortable with that by now. We’ve heard it enough and said it enough that we believe it to be good and true. However, we haven’t given up our control all the way. We put God into a Driver’s Ed car that still gives us the power to hit the brakes when we don’t like the direction we’re going. The issue with that is that even though God is in the driver’s seat, we still haven’t given up control.
We ought to be able to sit comfortably in the back seat with our eyes closed and still trust that God is safely taking exactly where we should be – metaphorically.
What is holding you back from trusting in the Lord with all of your heart? Often it’s the things that we think we know, the things that we decide we know better than God. We lean on our own understanding rather than God’s wisdom. Instead, we must submit to God. Whatever you think you know, it’s nothing compared to what God knows. Whatever you think you want, God knows what you need.
Let him drive. He knows where he’s going.
Prayer:
Father,
Help me to give up control. Humble me, let me understand that your ways are greater than mine, your wisdom far surpasses mine, and that you know better than me where we are going. Help me to trust you unconditionally.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
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