Let It Go

Dear Friends,

Today I have been reminded that God's timing cannot be separated from His will. The reminder came as I was reading two different passages in a daily devotional a friend had sent me. The passages were Ecclesiastes 3:11 and Jeremiah 29:11. The Ecclesiastes passage tells us that God “makes all things beautiful in His time”, while the Jeremiah verse reminds us that God “knows the plans” He has for us. When I looked at those verses side-by-side I was reminded that not only does God have a plan for each of us, but He will unfold that plan according to His timing.  

For a lot of us, I think it's easy to live by these truths in the “big” areas of our lives. So for things like where we work, or who we marry, or where we live. However, it’s harder to live by them in our day-to-day lives. Most of us feel the pressure of deadlines, or the demands of our to-do lists, which makes it harder to wait on God to work things out. So instead, we grab hold of the reins and plow through our days - getting things done to the best of our abilities. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t.

The more I've thought about this, the more I’m convinced that God wants us to try to submit to His timing and will in ALL that we do. That's because God isn't just interested in the big decision points in our lives, He's interested in all of our lives. God wants to walk through everyday life with us. Psalm 37:23 describes it like this:  “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” God has a plan for the details of our lives, and it's a plan that will unfold according to His timing.

So how do we do this? How do we go about getting things done that have to be done, while at the same time, follow God's leading and timing? I think the answer is simpler than we think - we “let go, and let God.” Here’s what I mean by that: we come to God with our daily activities and tasks, and we ask for His will to be done, according to His timing. And then we go about our day holding on to our agendas loosely, allowing God to improve on our plans as He carries out His plan. And then when our day begins to unfold differently than we thought it would, we remind ourselves that His plan is always better than ours.

So today, let's try this. Let’s give our day-to-day lives over to God. Let’s ask Him to carry out His timing in what we do today, and then let's be prepared to let go, and let Him work. And as we see God at work in the details of our day, let's be sure to thank Him, and let others know that it's God at work - not us.

Amen?

Daniel