Living Untethered: Relinquishing Control to God

Every Sabbath I try to do a ‘week in review’. I go back over my journal entries from the previous week to see where God was at work and what he was teaching me. There is almost always a recurring theme, a common verse of scripture that pops up in various situations, a lesson God is trying to highlight for me. Last week’s review was ‘abiding, lingering, in God’s presence’, and embracing the journey of discovery with him. I asked the Lord for some direction as to which scriptures would help me in this. I came upon Psalm 73. “ Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure. ” ( Psalm 73:1 , NLT) This sounded good to me, so I settled in and kept reading. The next verse took me by surprise. “ But as for me, I came so close to the edge of the cliff! My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone. (Psalm 73:2, NLT) Now I had to keep reading. What would cause the psalmist to fall? “ For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness. ” ...

Do any of you ever go down the ‘what if’ road? What if I don’t make any friends in our new community? What if my marriage does not get better? What if my husband loses his job? What if this pain in my body is cancer? What if my kids don’t love Jesus? You fill in the blank. What if ____? Not long ago (July 2018 at the time of writing this) I decided it was time to read through the Bible again. These days I am in Chronicles. To be honest I have been struggling in my trust of the Lord lately. There are so many unknowns in our life and it is beginning to wear on me. I know God is faithful and good. He has taken us through some very deep waters. But 'what ifs' race around the track of my mind like the cars in the Indy 500! What if the house doesn’t sell? What if we don’t find a suitable ministry? What if we didn’t hear God correctly? What if we go bankrupt and end up homeless? As the end of our present ministry  (remember this is from 2018)  looms on the not so distant ...

Have you ever wanted to trust God but were afraid that if you did, he would pull the carpet out from underneath your feet? You know in your head that he is good but…what if…last time…too risky… I was 30 years old and had been a Christian for 26 years, yet I was still afraid of trusting God completely. I was doing a much better job of looking after me than God could or would. At least that is what my actions and attitudes were showing. I was driving home from spending an evening with a friend. On my way home Jesus showed up in my mind in vivid video-like fashion. I was sitting on one end of a huge log by the ocean. Jesus was sitting on the other, wearing a plaid lumber-jack shirt and jeans. He was just sitting there relaxed and not at all nervous, elbows on his knees, gazing out to sea. He was not pressuring me to move closer or even engage in conversation. He was so safe, a perfect gentleman. In the course of time I felt comfortable and safe enough to inch ever closer to him....

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks…their minds became dark and confused…instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, birds and animals and snakes…so God let them go ahead…as a result they did vile things…they deliberately chose to believe lies…God abandoned them to their shameful desires…When they refused to acknowledge God…their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behaviour, and gossip…forever inventing new ways of sinning…they are fully aware of God’s penalty for such behaviour but they go right ahead and do them anyway…encouraging others to do the same… Romans 1:21 – 2:16   Give thanks…or else! The above passage is not a ‘touchy-feely’ type of message. In fact it’s rather harsh. Sobering. It’s what happens when we cease giving thanks. What about when life gets miserable? When we see injustic...

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had been carefully selected to serve in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar. “Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah’s royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives. “Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men,” he said. “Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace. Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon.”” (Daniel 1:3–4, NLT) These were no ordinary men. They stood out from the others. They were royalty back home in Judah. When these men were chosen God gave them even greater favour and extra ability to accomplish whatever the king asked of them. What the king had not banked on was their fierce devotion to God. King Nebuchadnezzar erected a huge statue that represented himself. When the band playe...