When You Let God Take Over...

           Recently, God reminded me that my world does not consist of only those around me. There is a much bigger world out there. I may find myself praying for my church, my family, but at the end of the day my world does go beyond this small, intimate, yet limited, circle. He is allowing me to be aware of the pain and suffering of others in my country, even in the world in general. There are orphans around the world, victims of human trafficking and domestic violence and the list goes on. But it is not just the victims He has me focusing on but the perpetrators of these heinous acts. Imagine, God is not only concerned about those who are being hurt but those responsible for the hurt and suffering. He knows what some of us know: that those who hurt others are often hurting themselves.
          Maybe you are not a “victim” but one who is guilty of inflicting pain and suffering. Maybe deep down you want to stop but don’t know how. You are so deep in it and for so long that there seems to be no way out. Listen, Jehovah God, is a God of the impossible. He is an expert at making a way where there seems to be no way. 
          I recall the story of the Red Sea parting in the Bible. God's people, the Israelites, had just managed to escape their slave masters, the Egyptians. Even that is a miraculous story of deliverance in itself. As they left Egypt, they were faced with a challenge: the Red Sea. They had no boat to get across this sea and they could not swim across, especially with women and children. They could not turn back because the Egyptians had   decided to pursue them and were right behind them. There was literally NO WAY OUT of this dilemma. But God made a way! He parted that sea so that the waters stood up on either side and His people walked on the dry seabed to the other side. 
          Do you think that was it? Of course not! Remember the Egyptians were close behind them and when they too tried to walk through, the waters closed in on them and drowned every one of them. The miracle was that God made a way for them but He also ensured that only they benefited from this miracle. 
          That is the story of deliverance from an impossible situation. Your struggle in the flesh is an impossible situation. Many times you feel like your hands are tied and you cannot even refrain from doing those things that are wrong. It seems easier to give up and to give in. But there is a God who is well able to do the impossible, even take away those evil desires in your flesh that drive you to do things that only make you feel unhappy and disgusted with yourself. You can’t but God can! When you surrender everything to Him - and this is for BOTH Christians and non-Christians - and you rest in Him He will make a way, He will direct you and help you. The difficult part is trusting and resting, when all you want to do is give in again and again to that bitterness, anger, lust, selfishness or evil act. But you know what? Just be honest with Him and tell Him how you feel. He already knows anyway but confessing it to Him helps you to get it off your chest. Then ask Him to help you trust and rest in Him as you allow Him to take charge of the situation, to sit in the driver’s seat for a change while you get to be the passenger as you allow Him to take the lead. He is God. Answering a call for help is His job. It is what He lives for . . . to help us. Try it. What do you have to lose?!