Many of us struggle with the desire to control our circumstances, but true peace and freedom come when we release our grip and trust in His plan. We’ll discuss practical strategies for surrendering control in our lives, the importance of faith, and how this process can lead to deeper spiritual growth.

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Full Transcript Below:

Releasing Control 

by Cindi McMenamin, Crosswalk Contributing Writer 

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you” Isaiah 26:3 ESV)

It took me awhile, but I’ve finally come to the conclusion that you and I are not in control of our lives, as much as we’d like to think we are. 

I learned this lesson during 2020, after experiencing a series of losses. Thankfully, I didn’t lose anyone close to me during the pandemic. But I did lose other things that hurt deeply. I lost the opportunity to be with and hug my little nephews. I lost a speaking opportunity at a prestigious writers conference for which I had waited more than a decade to be on the faculty. And I lost the ability to visit some favorite places of mine where I felt near to God and His blessings. 

While the loss of opportunities and daily routine was difficult, why did it take a pandemic –and the fear it arouses, the mandates it included, and the restrictions put in place—to make me feel I had no control of my life and circumstances?   

What I really lost during that time was the belief that I was in control—as if I ever really was. 

We thrive today on the notion that we make our own reality. If you can dream it, you can do it. We think and therefore we are. And yet, how much peace–and how much less striving—we would experience if we daily acknowledged that there is really only One who is in control…and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, God’s own Son, we have the assurance that when it looks like things are out of control, when were convinced we have no control, He is still very much in control.  And all His ways are good. Through Jesus, we can experience peace, not the endless striving to control, and the resulting frustration of not being able to control. 

Intersecting Faith and Life:

Loss and frustration impacts every one of us at some time in our lives, even when we’re trusting in God. Loss happens because we’re living in a fallen world. In the midst of a relationship with God, loss threatens our happiness, it tries to kill our joy, and in some extreme cases, it makes us believe we’ll have unending heartache. 

Because you and I were created to live eternally in a sinless world, and experience life with others who will live eternally, we weren’t created with a mental and emotional capacity for loss and death. Yet because we now live in a world of sin and death, we must rely on God for an otherworldly ability to cope with loss. And that happens as we release our sense of control and acknowledge that God is in charge and He is still good, 

In the New Living Translation, Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” In other words, as you keep your heart and mind fixed on Jesus, regardless of your circumstances, regardless of your losses, you will experience what Scripture calls “perfect peace”—not momentary peace, not worldly peace, not a mystical self-confidence type of peace, but a perfect, incomprehensible, only-from-the-presence-of-God peace as you trust in Him. 

That kind of peace is not a blanket promise to all who simply believe God exists.  It’s a guarantee to those who are steadfast, unmoving in their faith in who God is, His absolute control over all things, and His ability to govern, regardless of our circumstances. 

For me, exercising that steadfast immovable faith consists of saying aloud the words “God, this did not take You by surprise. You are still in control. You are still good. And all your ways are perfect” (Psalm 18:30). 

We can rob ourselves of peace when our minds are fixed on our emotions, or the outcomes we are trying to achieve, or on all the options we must investigate. Yet fixing our eyes on Jesus, and trusting that He is still on the throne, and He is still capable of doing all things, and doing them perfectly, can keep us in a place of perfect peace. 

As I’ve trusted Him and fixed my mind on Him, I’ve seen my Heavenly Father come through in amazingly gentle and perfect ways. Only God can ease the pain of loss, and the sting of death, and make the timing of one’s passing perfect. God truly is the author of peace, not the author of panic. He’s the author of calm, not confusion, and the author of rest, not stress.

He will keep you and me in perfect peace, whose minds are steadfast, and whose trust is in Him. 

Further reading: Psalm 145.

For more on growing in your relationship with God, see Cindi’s book: The New Loneliness Devotional: 50 Days to a Closer Connection with God.