Finding Peace Beyond the Illusion of Control

There is something about me that always wants to be in control. If I am sick, I want to outlearn the disease and overcome it. If relationships start to fail, I want to be able to charm them back to life. We all desire control. I think this is why we buy into so many fad diets promising snake-oil results. I do not say this as a judgment on eating right; it is wise, but how much stems from the desire to bend reality to fit our ideals? If there is something I can do, then it is something I can control. “I am the master of my ship.” The desire to govern this world has even entered Christian circles. “If you can muster enough faith, all will go right. Positive thoughts create positive results.” The problem is it is not true. We could do all of this, and it could still fall apart. We are not the masters of our destinies.

With every peal of thunder, I realize that I am not the center of the universe. When it comes to orchestrating the master plan for creation, I am no more special than the other 7 billion people on the planet. We all tend to live as if we are, but it is a delusion. You and I could come into contact with something in this fallen world that could end our lives within a matter of days, and there is nothing we can do about it.

Once we are gone, our co-workers would remember us and then replace us. Sure, they may even put up a picture for a few years to commemorate our contribution, but they would continue without us. Our demise would most likely hit our family the hardest, but our children would move on with their lives just like we would want them to. Even the one we love, if the Lord wills, would find someone else to love and with whom to share the rest of their life.

I dislike thinking about these things, but it is good. It reminds me that the world is not yet how it should be, so I should not put my trust and hope in it. There is something eternal that deserves my devotion and attention. Something else should be my refuge.

Though storms swell around us, we have found salvation in the cleft of the rock: Christ Jesus. All the sins that caused us to be fearful of God have been forgiven. The great and righteous judge of the universe has reconciled us to Himself through the cross. Yes, we, sinners, are friends of God. He calls us His children.

One of the problems is that we often interpret being a child of God to mean that we are now co-sovereigns with Him, but that is not the case. When the omnipotent God makes us His child, He does not stop being God. He does not hand us the reigns of the universe. Instead, He continues with His plan, and we should be grateful.

What bothers us is that He still keeps much of his plan hidden. The hidden things belong to the Lord (Deuteronomy 29:29). His judgments and ways are past finding out, and none of us have been his counselor (Romans 11:34). He has not told us everything He is doing. He is operating in a fallen world in many unseen and unknown ways, but He has given us some revelation. One of the things revealed is that he will return and set all things right. We sometimes complain that He has not done it yet, but His patience causes Him to tarry (2 Peter 3:9). If not for His patience, none of us would be saved. The day He returns in glory will be a day of great trembling and delight for His child, but it will be a day of terror for those who do not know Him. Though we should desire His return, it is not something we should rush because he is still gathering his people.

Our salvation involves so much more than what we are currently experiencing, and even creation groans, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed (Romans 8:19-23). Though we are to strive to give people a glimpse of glory in this life, it is only a dim reflection. We cannot place all our hope in what we are experiencing now. He has given us the Holy Spirit, and we know he is a guarantee of what is to come, but what we are experiencing now, in this life, is not the consummation of our salvation.

Everything could fall apart. The darkest things imaginable could happen, except one: that God would lose one of us who has been saved by faith and fail to complete the work He has begun in us. We will see Jesus face to face in all of His glory. One day, all believers will inhabit a place without sickness, without tears, and without death. A place where it can no longer come undone, but this is not it.

If we think that everything must fall into place right now for our salvation to be real and our faith to be true, we have a short-sighted view of both salvation and faith, and our understanding of God is too small. True faith will trust God even if He does not immediately do what we want. What He is doing is bigger and better than we could ever imagine, even if we don’t fully understand it.

One day, the hidden things will be revealed, and we will stand awestruck at the wisdom of His plan. No matter how dark and painful it gets, children of God win in the end because we will stand in the presence of Jesus. It could all fall apart, and that’s OK. Deep and abiding faith in God has the ability to look at the worst possible scenario and still see our Lord’s goodness. God has not ceased being God, and he will be faithful to His promises. He is conforming us to his image, and he will bring us home.

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you. – Isaiah 54:10

D. Eaton