Let Go, Let God

The title is cliché, I know.  But I hope you’ll hang to the end and see what the Lord is saying to me today.  Maybe it will touch your heart, too.

This following is a true life story that happened to one of my close Christian friends and it is fresh in my mind today.  Several years ago he and his wife gave their autistic son a bunny as a pet. The boy loved the bunny. He was always holding it. He had it in his arms from the time he got up until he had to go to bed.  He was always hugging and squeezing it. One day he came crying and holding the bunny out to his dad.  My friend had told him on several occasions the boy was hugging it too tight and hurting the bunny.  This time he hugged it too much and the bunny died.

I wonder how many times we cling to things in our lives because we love them. We love them so much that we can’t see how it affects us.  It’s not wrong to love something, but it is wrong when that love becomes an unhealthy situation for either us or those affected by our unhealthy choices.  In some situations instead of facing the realization that we caused the situation we may even apply blame someone else. “The store sold us a sick bunny.” But maybe the truth is we held something so tight that we squeezed the life out of it.  Instead of seeing a continuing growth and maturing, the life is gone and we’re left with nothing but a fur pelt in remembrance.

A few months ago, I was encouraging people to look forward.  And they couldn’t.  They were handcuffed to the “way things had always been done.”  I exhorted people to trust God for bigger and better, but they clung to tradition and refusal to change.  They didn’t want change for whatever reason — generally a fear of losing the past or fear of the risk of failure.  The apostle Peter may have failed in some people’s eyes when he got out of the boat then started to sink after he took his eyes off the Lord.  But the reality is this: only Peter got out of the boat and for a time (short as it was) walked on water.  Peter walked on water.

While those in the boat, a bunch of guys who were  probably just being typical guys, might have needled him he sank when he attempted to walk on the water like Jesus.  “You ain’t no Jesus, Peter.”  “Thinking you were good enough to walk on water, HA!”  “Look at me, I’m Peter and I want to walk on water, too.”  That’s just how guys are.  We tease and put each other down while refusing to face our own weaknesses and failures.  And in this instance, they were still sitting in the boat petting their proverbial dead bunny and wondering why Peter’s didn’t die when he stepped out on faith.

While I can’t prove the boys didn’t do that to Peter, you can’t disprove it either.  What we know is only one asked Jesus if He would give permission to walk on the water to meet Him.  Peter.  Jesus did grant it.  And for a few steps, Peter, one who had only been on the water in a boat, was a water walker.

This post is a bit metaphorical, I know, but I’m sure you’re smart enough to make the connections in your life.  You have to step out and trust God even if its something you’ve never done and are nervous to try.  If Jesus is with you, it’s gonna be alright. be encouraged.  Life only goes forward, never in reverse.  The things that are already done cannot be undone.  So moving forward is a necessity, but when you do move forward, make sure to hold the Father’s hand and let Him lead you into His life’s path for you.

Isaiah 61:3 — to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. (ESV)

Will you make mistakes?  Absolutely.  We all do.  The maturing, or sanctifying work of Christ is to get back on track with repentance and a submission to the Father’s will — yielding our own.  Until we’re willing to acknowledge our failure to Him, we’re unable to see how He can turn our ashes into beauty.  See our entire life is to bring glory to God.  Our lives are to be for Him.

In order to do that we need to remove our grubby, greasy fingerprints from our own lives and fully trust in God’s sovereignty.  He will accomplish what needs to be accomplished whether we’re following Him or not.  But if you want to see His hand of blessing in your life, you’ll want to lay down your preconceived notions and trust His plan is far bigger and better than anything we could dream up.

Ephesians 3:20-21 — Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)

My friend and his wife had to dry the tears of their son who didn’t realize what he had done. They didn’t have any way to protect their little boy from his own destructive actions.  And like them, my heart still breaks for the innocent people there who were just wanting to find a deeper walk with God and instead found several people pretending … intentionally or unintentionally.  I was called a hireling, but the wolves were the ones guarding the sheep long before I ever arrived.  The wolves were in charge and desperately grasped for control – of everything.  Instead of fighting, I walked away.  Not of my own, but by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The saga of the little church that could, is still ongoing.  I do pray for them.  I do ask for mercy and favor.  But like anything in life, answers come when we repent of making a wreck of our lives and submitting to His hand.  And like the prodigal child who comes back home hoping just to live as one of his father’s servants, we’ll find our heavenly Father waiting outside, looking down the street, praying for our safe return.  And when He does, He’ll wrap His arms of mercy and grace around us and just let us feel the warmth of His everlasting love.

— Pastor Rick