June 2023

When the many trials and tribulations of life line up like bargain hunters at a Black Friday Sale, remember that God is in control. This powerful reminder can keep us steady when everything seems out of control. If you are anything like me, this familiar phrase slips out more as a matter of habit than a declaration of truth. Nevertheless, I fully intend to proclaim God’s faithfulness through times of turmoil. God’s sovereignty is evident throughout my life.

The author of Psalms 73 speaks of his own frustrations and struggles while keeping his faith and fellowship with God. How can we be like the Psalmist and keep our feet from slipping or avoid losing our footholds? How do we hold on to hope and keep our hearts pure? How do we fight envying other’s prosperity or escape the pride that lurks around our hearts? There will always be spiritual battles in times of prosperity and during struggles. This thing we call “life” is full of confusion, disappointment, and despair. Keeping “God is in control” a declaration of truth rather than a mindless cliché, is our best defense. Surrendering to God’s control means looking at areas of our lives that we need to turn over to the Lord, then asking for His forgiveness and receiving His grace.

The following are some of my favorite scriptures to remind me that God is in control:

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalms 139:23-24).

Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, Who is the Lord? (Proverbs 30:8-9).

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him.
(1 John 5:14-15).

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1).

The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still (Exodus 14:14).

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Lastly, when all seems bleak this is God’s promise to us:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans (Roman 8:26).

I hope you will add your own scriptures to the list and share your favorites reminders that GOD IS IN CONTROL.