Yielding Control

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. - Proverbs 3:5-6

I love being in control.

Although I’m guilty of many things, self-reliance might just be at the top of the list. I fall into a trap where I think that I’m running the show, calling the shots, and controlling the ship.

It’s easy to put control under the umbrella of leadership. After all, shouldn’t fathers be leaders?

But leadership and a hunger for control aren’t the same things. In fact, a hunger for control often hinders our ability to lead well.

When I fall into these traps of self-reliance, it usually takes an earthquake to wake me up.

Just a little over a week ago, my son became very, very sick. We took him to urgent care, gave him medicine, did everything the doctor told us to do, but nothing seemed to help.

We took him to the ER, where he was then admitted to the hospital with a severe case of salmonella.

In a situation like that, I don’t have many answers at all. I have no medical knowledge and am not a doctor. I need to yield control to medical professionals who have studied and trained to fight such sicknesses. And above all, I need to yield control to God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us not to lean on our own understanding. Instead, we need to trust in the Lord with all our heart. When we yield control, God will make our paths straight.

My son is fully recovered and is back to being 100%, but I had to yield control to God and submit to His authority to trust that He would take care of my son. I had to yield earthly medical control to the doctors to trust that they would take care of my son too.

Even though I yielded control, I didn’t yield my responsibilities. I was still responsible to shepherd my family and lead them through the difficult time. I was still called to be active, not passive, and to be the husband and father God has equipped me to be.

I’m still learning. Even in the midst of an earthquake, it can still be difficult to yield control. I’m thankful that I have a wonderful, Godly wife who reminds me to yield control to our Heavenly Father.

Here’s the cool thing: each time I yield control, I feel like God moves in a little bit closer. I’m yielding inches on the battleground of my heart, and he’s moving in as the victor of my soul.

Yielding control is a beautiful step to take.

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