Musings of the Day #2

I received a great comment on yesteday's blog. "When people feel slighted, they eat rat poison and wait for the rat to die." It put's yesterday's comments in succinct form. Thanks, Pastor Ryan Brons.

Why do we need to control everything we are involved in? Many believers suffer from that delusion, elusion, or whatever. There seem to be several motives for this need. One is that we don't think anyone else can do it as well as we personally can. That means I think I'm better than others - rather arrogant wouldn't you say? The second reason is that I am insecure. To hide my insecurity, I need to be in control. Poor reason, I'd say. Another reason is that we believe our true value is best expressed when we are in control. Many of us want to lead where God has not called us to lead. When this happens, we find ourselvs in a world of trouble. The Lord does not bless leadership He has not established. And if He calls you to leadership even though you feel inadquate, He will lead, guide, and bless if you seek His face and do not lay your hand on the control knob.

We work with an orphanage in Malawi called Hope Childrens' Centre. One of the main issues has centered on this desire to be in control. I have watched the enemy come in to pit people against each other all in the name of control. Who owns the project? Who should run it? Who has the final say so. In such situations, there are multiple parties involved with varied interests and reasons for being involved. There is the government of the country with its rules and regulaltions which must be met. There is the national leadership of the Malawian Church who started the orphanage and registered it with the government. Then there are the missionaries on the ground, the Board in America, and so the list goes on.

What I have seen is that almost everyone has missed the main point. The orphanage belongs to God who called the vision into being through the leaders of the church there. We responded to the call to come alongside and help. So who owns the orphanage? God. Who owns the vision?
God. Who runs the orphanage? I would hope that all could answer that God by His Spirit leads us all in our individual roles so that the glory of the completed vision and work belongs to God.

So what in your life to you want to control that God has not placed in your hands, but rather has allowed you to place your hand in His that He might lead you in His work? You could study that sentence awhile. The truth is there. God gives the vision, the work, the need. He has a plan on how to solve the situation, deal with the person, lead the church, or whatever the need is. If He calls you to be involved in this need, you put your hand in His. You submit your will to His. Then you let Him lead you to your part in the work or solution. But remember He has the bigger hand and so He is in control. Who better to be in control than God who sees all, knows all and loves all? Any other way leads to a big crash.

Matthew 7:24-27, "Therefore everyone who hear these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who build his house on the rock................ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat agains that house, and it fell with WITH A GREAT CRASH."

The choice is yours - a crash or a solid work of the Lord.