Latest / Pulpit to Pavement / Episode #4: Jesus Take the Wheel...But I'm Still Driving
Transcript
- Kayla: Welcome to the Pulpit to Pavement Podcast, where we explore how the faith we proclaim on Sunday becomes the faith we live every day. As we begin, may God open our hearts, shape our thoughts, and help us hear what we need for the road ahead. May these conversations draw us closer to Christ and help us carry his love from the pulpit to the pavement. Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of Pulpit to Pavement. Have you ever prayed, Lord, I give this situation to you, only to spend the next three hours worrying yourself sick, Googling solutions, trying to figure out how to fix it yourself? You know, it's like saying, Jesus, take the wheel, and then immediately shouting, not that way, slow down. Actually, just pull over and let me drive. I think for most of us, we love the idea of God being in control, but we struggle with the reality of it. We tell others, let go and let God. But it's a whole other thing when we have to do it ourselves. We want God's guidance, but we also want to make the decisions. Why is it so hard to surrender things to God? And there are a few reasons for that. One, we crave certainty, right? We want to know how things will turn out before we take the next step. There's actually been extensive research that suggests people who have anxiety prefer to watch the same TV shows repeatedly because they already know how the how every episode ends, which removes the unpredictability that fuels anxious thinking. Now, that's not saying that. Everyone watches the same shows repeatedly for that reason. But for many, predictability is a buffer for life's chaos and uncertainty. And knowing the outcome of a show removes that source of stress. That's how much we crave certainty. We want to co-pilot our kids' future pathways. We want to be sure our investment portfolios are fail-safe. We want to know exactly how a difficult conversation will go. And when life doesn't follow our timeline, we become riddled with anxiety. Could it be that maybe sometimes we confuse having a plan with having control? I think so. Another reason we struggle with surrender is we think that control equals security. We convince ourselves that if we are diligent, In our planning and anticipate every possible problem, nothing bad will happen. But life regularly reminds us otherwise. Perhaps you've heard the old adage: the best laid plans of mice and men can still go wrong. You could have the best laid plan, and life still happens, right? Jobs get eliminated, health issues arise, the economy goes south. People disappoint us, conflict happens. And those things have a way of rerouting our plans, right? You think of GPS. Anytime you make a wrong turn, it says recalculating, that that is what life does with our plans. And so sometimes the thing we're holding on to, it isn't control at all. It's just the illusion of control. And I think another reason. It's so hard to surrender things to God is because we struggle to trust what we cannot see. And isn't that what faith is? We may believe God is good and faithful and loving, but trusting his timing and direction is a challenge for us. Is it possible to believe in God without fully trusting God? Well, yeah. You know, Peter believed in Jesus enough to get out of the boat. In Matthew fourteen, we read about Peter walking on water. Beginning with verse twenty two, it says, Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the winds, the waves, because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, Take courage, it is I, don't be afraid. Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water. Come, he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat. Walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little faith, he said, Why did you doubt? Now, I like to give Peter some credit here because at least he got out of the boat. The other disciples stayed in the boat. But Peter was at least willing to give it a go. And as long as Peter kept his focus on Jesus, he stayed above water. But the moment he shifted his focus to what was happening around him, he sank. And friends, that is us. We want to be focused on Jesus so much that we walk on water. The problem is we're too focused on. All the external circumstances, as though everything depends on us. The circumstances hadn't necessarily changed, right? The wind was already blowing when Peter stepped out of the boat. It wasn't the circumstances that changed, it was Peter's attention. At first, his focus was on Jesus. But as he became increasingly aware of what was going on around him, fear began to overwhelm his faith. I think sometimes we think trusting God means we're never gonna feel afraid. But Peter reminds us that faith isn't the absence of fear. Faith is being willing to take that step even when we're afraid. Have you ever felt confident that God was leading you somewhere? Only to start questioning everything once you took that first step. My answer to that question is a thousand times yes. We start the day praying, God, I trust you with whatever today brings. Ha! Because then the unexpected bill arrives. You find out layoffs are coming to your company. Someone makes a decision we don't agree with. Something doesn't happen according to our timeline. And suddenly we find ourselves scrambling to re regain control. We can be walking in faith one moment and drowning in our what ifs the next. Now, Peter couldn't control the storm, but he could call on Jesus. When Peter began sinking, he cried out, Lord, save me. And Jesus immediately reached out his hand. Notice what Peter didn't do. He didn't try to swim harder. He didn't develop a five-step plan for walking on water. He cried out to the one who could actually save him. How many times do we exhaust every avenue trying to fix everything before we finally turn to God? We treat prayer as a last resort rather than a first response. Or we treat prayer like God is a genie in a bottle. Here is my plan, Lord. Now please grant it. Bless it. Sometimes we treat it as transactional. God, I'll trust you. If you promise everything will work out the way I want, we don't like to admit we do that, but we do it. But real surrender says, God, I trust you even when I don't know how things will work out, and even if they don't go according to my plan. Peter wasn't walking on calm water. You'll notice that. He was walking toward Jesus in the middle of a storm. And Jesus didn't calm the wind until they got back into the boat. So see, faith doesn't guarantee smooth sailing. It gives us someone to trust when the waters get rough. Now, let me just accompany all of that with there is a difference between surrender and giving up. Let's not confuse the two. Okay. Surrender is not passivity. Surrender is not refusing to make decisions. It is seeking God's wisdom in those decisions. It it is not ignoring responsibilities. It's being faithful with responsibilities. Surrender is not pretending problems don't exist. It's facing problems without being consumed by them. Surrender is not giving up on a difficult situation. It's releasing our demand for a particular outcome to the situation. Surrender is not. Never making plans. It's learning to hold our plans with open hands. Surrender doesn't mean we stop caring about the outcome. It means we trust God even when the outcome isn't what we hoped for. We talked about this Monday night at Raising Arrows, which, by the way, I need to make a correction. I think I told you guys a couple of weeks ago that Raising Arrows is on the second and fourth Monday of each month. It is actually the first. And the third Monday of each month at six PM. We talked about expectations in parenting. Before we became parents, we had this vision of what we thought it would look like. And many of us said we envisioned it being easier than it actually was. We had general and specific hopes and dreams and goals for our families. But we all agreed that none of our parenting paths went. Exactly as we imagined it. You know, there have been times we've experienced heartache and disappointment and a multitude of challenges. And so we had a discussion on when we need to intervene in our children's lives and kind of copilot with them, and when we need to take our hands off of things and surrender them to God. And to be sure, that is hard. It's one of the hardest things we do as parents. It's hard to surrender parts of our parenting to God because as parents, we want to fix everything. We want to make everything better. We want to solve our children's problems. But there are times when, despite all our trying, we can't manufacture success, happiness, and peace in our kids' lives. And those are things we have to surrender to God. We have to say, Jesus take the wheel and actually let him drive the car. Okay, so five signs you might still be holding the wheel. All right. It's time for a little self-evaluation here, a little examination. One, you pray about something and immediately start worrying about it again. Like you give it to God at 8 a.m. and you take it back at 805. Two, You have a very specific timeline for God. So you say, Lord, I trust your timing, but it would be really great if you could make this happen by Friday. Number three, you struggle when things don't go according to plan. An unexpected change, or maybe when an expectation is not fulfilled, it may feel less like an inconvenience and more like a personal crisis. Four, you feel responsible for. For other people's decisions and happiness. Like I said, you want to fix everyone's problems, even the ones you were never meant to carry. And five, you ask God to guide you, but only toward destinations you've already approved. Lord, lead me wherever you want, as long as it's comfortable and familiar to me, and it doesn't require too much change on my part. So, which one of those describes you most often? Which one is a telltale sign to you that you're still driving the wheel? And once you identify that, then you need to move on to how do I actually let this go? And this, my friends, is your pavement challenge. Okay, four things to practice. So you can actually move from let go to let God. Number one, Identify what you can and cannot control. We cannot control other people's choices, tomorrow's circumstances, or every outcome, right? But we can control how we respond, what we prioritize, and whether we are seeking God's wisdom in the midst of it. So ask yourself: what is actually my part? In this situation. And also, what am I trying to carry that actually belongs to God or someone else? Okay, number two, trade your what-ifs for even-ifs. In the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you know, they were Hebrew exiles in Babylon. And the Babylonian king ordered everyone to bow down. And worship the golden statue he had made, only these three guys refused to do it. And the king said, Do it, or I'll throw you in the furnace. And their reply was, We don't need to defend ourselves before you. If we're thrown into the furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us and he will deliver us from your hand. But even if he does not. We will still refuse to worship your God or the idols you have created. We think we have problems, right? Many days our big dilemma is the Wi-Fi is down and we can't do our work or watch Netflix. Most days, our biggest problem is that Amazon says our package won't arrive until Thursday instead of Wednesday. Most days, our biggest problem is that the person in front of us is going 10 miles under the speed limit and we're already three minutes late. Most days our biggest problem is our phone battery is at 12%. We can't find a charger and we're driving in unfamiliar territory. For these guys, the big problem was denounce God or get thrown into the furnace. It seemed like a lose-lose situation for them. And yet their response wasn't, what if God doesn't deliver us? It was, even if God doesn't deliver us. We will still trust him. So instead of constantly asking, what if this doesn't work out? What if I fail? What if things change or don't change? Practice saying, even if this doesn't work out, I know God will still be with me. Even if I fail, God's grace is sufficient. Even if things change, God's faithfulness doesn't. Three, practice daily surrender, not occasional surrender. The serenity prayer is my go-to for this. So I'm gonna pray this prayer right now. And if you know it, pray it with me, okay? God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time. Enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, taking as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it, trusting that you will make all things right if I surrender to your will, so that I may be reasonably happy in this life. Supremely happy with you forever in the next. Amen. If surrender is hard for you, get familiar with this prayer. Pray it daily, sometimes more than once a day. Relinquishing control isn't a one time decision, it is a daily spiritual discipline. So begin the day with a simple surrender prayer, maybe the serenity prayer. When anxiety arises, pause before reacting. Ask Am I acting from faith or from fear? And then end your day by naming something you couldn't control and consciously release it to God. Imagine yourself actually laying it at the throne of Jesus. And then number four, learn to recognize when God redirects you. Okay, sometimes the unexpected tour. Is not a failure in your plan. That might actually be the hand of God. It might be an opportunity to grow. Discover something you hadn't considered. However, not every setback is necessarily a message from God. Can you think of a time when something didn't go according to your plan? But looking back, you can see God working through it. My answer to that one is a thousand times yes. Here's the thing: following Jesus. Doesn't mean we know every turn in the road. It doesn't mean we won't encounter potholes or detours or storms. And it certainly doesn't mean life will always take us where we expect. What it does mean is we don't have to navigate the journey alone. Maybe surrender isn't about taking our hands off every responsibility. Maybe it's about loosening our grip on the outcome. Even if it doesn't turn out the way we imagine it, we know that God has a plan for our good. The goal of following Jesus isn't to get him to bless every destination we choose, it's to trust him enough to follow wherever he leads. All right, let me pray for us. Gracious God, we confess that we do love being in control. We love knowing what's coming next. We love having a plan. We love feeling like we've got everything figured out. But sometimes our need for control gets in the way of trusting you. So forgive us, Lord, for the times we're We've asked you to lead while insisting on choosing our direction. Help us recognize what is ours to carry and what we need to release to you. Give us wisdom to act, patience to wait, and courage to trust you, even when the road ahead is uncertain. Teach us to live with open hands and faithful hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for joining us today on Pulpit to Pavement. As you go, remember, faith isn't just something we hear about, it's something we live out. So take what God has placed on your heart today, carry it into your week, and put your faith into motion. Until next time, may God bless you, guide you, and use you wherever the road takes you. Keep the faith and take it to the pavement.