| “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” |
| —Proverbs 3:6 |
I know people who like using the cruise control in their vehicles. Not me! There’s something about trusting myself and my passengers to a computer that maintains a constant speed, as we rocket down the highway, that makes me very uncomfortable. From moment to moment, I would much rather manually control my own pace.
My attitude towards cruise control makes me think about our lives, as we travel with God “at the wheel,” so to speak. We often feel quite uncomfortable surrendering the controls to Him, too. Yet, there comes a time when He asks all of us to trust Him with the “steering wheel,” the “accelerator,” the “brake,” and all other “controls” we may have over our lives—especially when the road we are on in our lives isn’t clear, and when our visibility seems especially poor!
We are not alone in allowing God to take the control of our lives: think of Abraham, as an example. In Hebrews 11:8 we read:
“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”
Now that’s giving up control! The Bible tells us of other times in Abraham’s life when he trusted God’s leading, even though it must have made more sense to do something else. We see the reason why we call Abraham the “Father of our Faith.” His faith in God controlled his actions, time and again. And, because of his trust in God, Abraham saw magnificent acts of God’s power and love.
When we read the account of Abraham’s life, we also clearly see that those occasions when he did not choose to obediently take his hands off the “wheel” of his life, and surrender to God’s control, were the very times that he faltered. The consequences of those few times when Abraham pushed God’s hands out of the way, and all-too-eagerly grasped the wheel for himself, have reverberated down through the pages of history, right up to the present day.
It always helps to remember the One who controls the “wheel.” While good driving for me may mean disengaging the cruise control, good faith means putting all we see and can’t see through the “windshield” of our lives totally in the control of our God. We can rely on His vision, His hearing, His wisdom, His reflexes, and, of course, His unfailing love.
Let us join together in learning to “cruise” through this life giving up control of our lives to the One who knows us the most and loves us best. God is the One whom we can always trust to see what’s around the corner of the road ahead. There are no accidents on the road He chooses for us. And, though it may seem rough, narrow, steep, and dangerous at times, it is always in our very best interest to leave the “driving” of our lives to Him!
