Under Whose Control?

Do you have life under control? You have a well laid out financial plan, your marriage is rock solid, you just got a promotion at work, your kids are well behaved, you work out at the gym several times each week, life is good Nothing major has sidetracked you or your family in a very long time. You look through the binoculars and it is nothing but clear sailing, all thanks to you having life under control. But wait a minute! 

There is nothing wrong with trying to wisely manage life and avoid doing and saying things that will cause you to stumble and fall. In fact, that is a very prudent thing to do. It is also wisdom to have safety nets for when things do go wrong – cars break down, kids get sick, roofs leak, job layoffs occur, cancer happens. While it might look as if you have life under control, let’s be honest, life is not really all that controllable. Even the best planned out, and lived out, life, is not exempt from death, sickness, divorce, betrayal, financial difficulties, stock market volatility, or even the potential of a global pandemic.

The Book of Proverbs is a roadmap to navigating life with wisdom, not just any kind of off the shelf wisdom, but rather through God’s wisdom. It regularly contrasts the wise and the foolish. Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, who according to Scripture is the wisest man to ever live (1 Kings 3:11-15), says this in Proverbs 12:15 – “A fool’s way is right in his own eyes, but whoever listens to counsel is wise.” Elsewhere in that same Book, in vv.1:22-23, we are told that that the promise of God’s wisdom comes to those who seek it, but first it requires giving up the world’s mockery of real and lasting truth.

God’s wisdom comes to us through the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 we find this – “However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’ – the things God has prepared for those who love him – these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

I started by asking you a question. Let me end by asking that same question with a slightly different twist – Do you have life under your control or is it under God’s control. Life lived under your control leads to a never-ending back and forth between “in control” and “out of control” whereas under God’s control, while life might still be rocky, and bad stuff still happens, gives you wisdom more precious than gold and silver (Proverbs 3:13-15, 16:16) and helps to weave a peaceful path through life (Proverbs 3:17).