While still a teenager, I was required to serve on a jury for the California superior court in of Los Angeles. This required a 30 mile commute from my home, which at the time was in Montclair, CA. As you may know, commuting in and out of Los Angeles is not an efficient process and this particular rainy Friday night was no different. I crawled along the freeway, wondering if my speedometer actually worked. Just as I had abandoned all hope of making it home before bed time, traffic began to speed up. Completely ignoring the law of freeway traffic that says “what speeds up must slow down”, I began to speed up as well. When the wall of brake lights appeared in front of me, I had gained too much speed to stop in time.
Being in the far left lane, I quickly decided that my only hope was to swerve onto the left shoulder. The idea was that there would be enough room between the center divider and the car in front of me. My tires did not agree with that plan. They seemed to immediately lose all grip with the slick road as I slid too far and clipped the center divider. I’m not sure how many times I spun around. I do know that when I stopped, I was no longer wearing my glasses, my truck had stalled and there were (very out of focus) headlights coming straight at me. Praise God that the oncoming drivers were paying more attention than I and stopped in time. I restarted my truck, turned it around and limped to the right shoulder. Amazingly, the only damaged vehicle was my own, and there were no injuries.
Life can seem as out of control as I was, spinning around without my glasses. It may surprise you to know that this was not God’s original plan for your life.
Take a look at Genesis 1:26 – 28:
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
This passage tells us that God intended for us to be in charge over everything in this world. When mankind sinned, we lost control. In fact, Genesis 3:14 – 19 lays out the consequences of sin. In addition, Lamentations 5:16 tells shows that we’ve lost our position of authority:
16 The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
However, God loves us so much that He initiated a solution the very moment we first sinned. Take a look at verse Genesis 3:15, where God is speaking to the serpent:
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
When mankind first sinned, God set the plan in motion to bring us salvation and when Jesus died on the cross, He fulfilled the promise given in Genesis 3:15. By doing so, He not only provided a way for us to gain eternal life, He also gave us a way to have access to the authority we lost.
If your life is out of control, then I encourage you to look to Jesus. He’ll give you the authority, courage and wisdom to work out the problems in your life. If you have not given your life to Christ, then I invite you to do so. Salvation is a gift from God and there is nothing you can do to earn it.
God knows your heart and is not as concerned with your words as He is with the attitude
of your heart. To give your life to Christ, pray something like this:
Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.
The goal for this week is to spend time each day (or many times a day) surrendering problems over to God. Then watch for signs of how God is solving the problems in your life.
Verses for this week:
Psalm 46:10
Psalm 121:7
Luke 10:19
Romans 8:38
Galatians 4:7