The tension between wanting to take control and wait for God to provide clear instruction, answers to prayer, provision or solutions is incredible. It can create real anxiety. We don’t wait passively, though. We work diligently; sowing and cultivating seeds of faith, trusting in God’s grace and favor to bear fruit. The key issue is trusting God. It’s about letting go, receiving the Holy Spirit’s strength and cultivating the virtues of patience and trust.
Trusting God, though, cuts against the grain of our human nature. The tension is increased by those who tell you to seize control and make things happen. It sounds so reasonable and right from a practical sense. But we must balance diligence with patience. As we diligently plow our field and walk in wisdom we trust in God’s grace; which is our sufficiency (2 Corinthians 12:9).
RELEVANCE
Think about how automobiles are built with a drive belt tensioner. It is designed to automatically hold a predetermined amount of tension on the drive belt to allow the drive belt to run properly. Without it the engine would buck or jerk, or cause other functions to fail depending on the make of vehicle. Think of it as an instrument of GRACE! Critical to the operation of the tensioner is lubrication.
God built our internal engine with a unique tensioner capacity. He gave us a conscience and a will as means for self regulation; self control—a fruit of the Holy Spirit. The conscience regulates right and wrong. It’s our moral compass. The will controls behavior and action. Both require the lubrication of God’s Holy Spirit to function in God’s order. When our conscience or will is impaired we will function in some way or another out of God’s order. Just like in an automobile, an adjustment is required.
Psychologists have different ways of working to influence and heal the conscience and will. God’s remedy would be applying His Word and Spirit, which speaks about deliberately challenging yourself to practice discipline. The first step is self-denial; making a determined practice of denying your self from responding to your fleshly impulses . If you truly want to be in sync with God’s order, He will reveal the types of adjustments required. Then it’s up to your willingness to yield to the Holy Spirit, listen and obey—walk in His ways.
REFLECT AND RELATE
As critical as the tensioner is to the operation of an automobile, ask God to reveal how your internal tensioner was created to function, and what types of adjustments He would require for yours to work properly. You may want to record these answers in a journal.
REFERENCES
Proverbs 3:11-35; 10:17; 13:18-19; 16:16-25; 1 Corinthians 10:26-27; Hebrews 12:3-17