Letting Go

Broken Dreams – As children bring their broken toys with tears for us to mend, I brought my broken dreams to God because He was my friend. But then instead of leaving Him in peace to work alone, I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own. At last I snatched them back and cried, “How could you be so slow?” “My child,” He said, “What could I do? You never did let go.” (author unknown) 1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him, for He careth for you.

Letting Go….so much easier said than done. Why is it that we want to hold onto pain, resentment, anger? It seems easier to live in the darkness then in the light. But the freedom that comes from truly letting go of our broken dreams, of our expectations that were never met. That freedom, that hope, that peace is so supernatural and freeing.

The Bible really is a step by step guide to getting through this life. James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Proverbs 3:5 Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure everything out on your own. Listen for Gods voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all.

This is where things can get a little tricky for me. Don’t assume that I know it all. I don’t think I am alone in that verse being kinda a deal breaker. I am human. When I have a crisis in front of me my first reaction is not usually holding my hands up in the air and saying, “God I give you this problem, this hurt, this situation that is not comfortable to me. I release it to your hands.” No! My first reaction is usually panic or anger and I put every ounce of strength I have into trying to assume I can fix this. As if my having a nervous breakdown can cure my friend of cancer or if I just worry enough my son will do great at college, If I just sit down and budget every last penny my family has this financial mess will go away. It doesn’t work that way my friends.

God gives us specific instructions on what to do when the unexpected happens. His instructions are not written in some fancy code that only the special gifted can understand. They are clear. First draw close to God and he will draw close to you. Second trust God from the bottom of your heart. Third let go and let God. He cannot fix which that is not given to him. Are these instructions easy, yes. Are they simple to do, I believe for the majority of us mere humans the answer is no.

We don’t believe that we are really harming ourselves or making a bad situation worse. I know for me I always felt like when everything around me started to fall apart, if I could just somehow “control” or “manipulate” things just enough then I wouldn’t have to really feel what the true situation was. I know for myself that seems to be the scariest part. Once I give up complete control, once I really truly trust God with whatever crisis life throws at me, that leaves me with no other choice but to wait. Good, bad, whatever and however God works things out I wait.

In that waiting the emotions flow out. In this time of waiting God provides his words because he is very aware that life is not easy. Waiting is not easy. Psalm 62: 1-2 I stand silently before the Lord, waiting for him to rescue me. For salvation comes from him alone, yes, he alone is my Rock, my rescuer, defense and fortress. Why then should I be tense with fear when trouble comes? Just take a minute and think about how powerful that scripture is. I stand silently before the lord. Why must we be silent? Because God does not shout, he whispers. When bad things happen and we want direction from God we must remain silent before him.

For me I picture this sense of great trust that happens if you can stand silent before the Lord. Yes he alone is my Rock. People fail each other, we are flawed, to lean onto or to put your whole faith into another human being in a crisis situation is not a good move. Only God alone can be your Rock, your rescuer, your fortress. Not your spouse or other family, not your best friend, not the most highly trained doctors or pastors.

Do you realize how important it is that God alone be your Rock, your fortress? Its because we don’t always get the news we want. People we love die, natural disasters happen, the phone rings in the middle of the night and your world is forever changed. When our dreams are broken and our “comfortable” worlds are shattered. If in those moments we try to control an out of control situation and we do not give it all over to God and then hold on tight to his hands to help guide us through the darkness then we will be left with no peace, no joy, bitterness will wail up inside us and we will go to God in our anger and cry out “How could you be so slow”, “How could you let this happen” and his reply will be “My child, what could I do? You never did let go.”

My dear friends I do understand how hard it is to let go and let God but I do love scripture found in 1 John 3: 18-24 (the message) For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. And friends once that is taken care of and we are no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we are bold and free before God.

The Bible makes it clear, humans cannot be perfect and neither can life. The only perfect is God. In the midst of all the evil in the world we must continue to turn our focus on the one true perfect. Once we begin to doubt or ask why, we are turning the focus back to ourselves. How can the one true perfect God answer our prayers and calm our fears if we refuse to let go of our unperfect human nature and let the Great one do his job?