Who is Calling The Shots?

A life long struggle is to follow the will of God. Many books have been written and minds far greater than mine have wrestled with this topic. On the outside it seems like a simple thing really. To follow god's will is to do whatever it is God directs us to do. Then the problem comes, what is it God desires me to do? This would get incredibly easier if things worked a little more like the magic 8 ball. You ask your question shake the ball, look in the in window and get your answer. If you do not like the answer you try again. We like the idea of this because the response is immediate, and we can manipulate it. Which brings me to the two limiting factors of our following the will of God, time and sovereignty.

Time. We all have the same amount in each day. Some people feel like the have less than others, while some feel as though they have more. Fact is we all have 24 hours. My confession is I often out more than I need to in the 24 hours. The result is I get moving too fast, and therefore struggle to wait on Gods direction. I ask God to guide me, but when the guidance takes longer than I would prefer, I make the decision based on what I want. There are times when that matches what God wanted for me, and there are plenty of times it doesn't. However the point is not where I ended, but how I got there.

Sovereignty. Now that is a nice big theological word. That is the kind of stuff seminary dreams are made of. The most basic way to understand this is to say that God will do what God will do, and part of what God does is allow us to come along side what God is doing. Now that we have that clear.? We like to be able to manipulate what it is that God would have us do to match the things we want to do. There are times when we inform God what His role will be in a given moment. When really the roles ought to be reversed. God is not about to do something just because we told Him to, no God will do what God will do. Instead of asking God to bless what we are doing, following the will of God is doing what God is blessing.

I have many least favorite bumper stickers. On the top of that list is the one which reads "God is my co-pilot. I want to stop that person and tell them I am sorry. I am sorry because they are driving to much. God is not the co-pilot, God is the pilot, and we are the flight attendants. We serve at the direction of the pilot. We can ignore the pilot, but usually the results are tragic and can even lead to a crash.

Who is flying your plane? Who is calling the shots in your life?