Thursday, September 04, 2008
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Vehicle in Neutral, Hands Off the Wheel...
I took my car to the automatic car-wash yesterday. I hate automatic car-washes. Normally, I control my car, but at these places, you have to put your vehicle in neutral and be conveyed through a gauntlet of swaying rubber-strip walls and giant, spinning bottle-brushes...all in the hope that these forces I have no charge over will be able to remove the grime while not scratching my vehicle.
I don't like that feeling. I don't like being told to put my vehicle in neutral, keep my hands off the steering wheel and my feet off the pedals. I don't like seeing tailights too close ahead and headlights too close behind. I don't like trusting something so completely out of my sphere of control.
I was saying this to God as I began to drive in, as I realized a car had just pulled in behind me, cutting off escape, and the underpaid attendents were yelling at me over the sound of the jets: "Neu-tral! Hands OFF the wheel! NEU-TRAL!"
"Have I given you control, Lord? In this way," I said, "have I let you do this to me?" Or do I prefer to clean myself up in the same way I prefer to wash my car: in the driveway, with my own hands? I wash my car myself because I know I can get all the grime; because there is less of a chance I'll hurt my car. Because I can do it my own way, in my own timing, and the way I like it. In terms of car ownership, that's a good thing...but not when it comes to something as valuable as your very self.
Jesus sees grime we don't see. He also wants to address the crusty stuff that's built up on our hoods that everyone can see...which we began thinking was actually part of our industry-standard color pallette.
"Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel." Jeremiah 18:6, NASB
In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:20-21, NASB
How do you fight the urge to take control of everything? Have you ever been in a situation where you knew things would have turned out better if you had let God take control?
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Comments (6)
When I was sixteen and was trying to earn driving experience before my big test, I let my Mom ride with me around town so I could get used to it. The only problem is, I was still a bit green behind the wheel and my mother was a nervous wreck.
As I was driving, she became paranoid I would lurch off the side of the road and hit a pole or a mailbox and would literally fling herself across the car to grab the steering wheel. Now 9 times out of 10, when she would do this, it would cause the car to weave and we came close to actually hitting a telephone pole because of this.
She later apologized to me, but the point is, being with God is like that. God is driving and we have to trust where He is taking us, because if you lurch for the steering wheel, you are just going to mess up and cause more damage that you can handle.
Totally agree, I hate giving up control. Regarding the drive-in car washes, I would never let them touch my car, I'll hand wash the car even in the winter.
But God is in the driver's seat and we need to practice patience and learn to let be our guide.
Wow. There's so few comments on this one. This has been a really big issue for me. Anytime I find myself struggling with something, it almost always goes back to my level of surrender.
A few months ago, I was in rehab, struggling with a drug addiction. I know that God has a plan for my life, but I wanted to do things my way. God used my therapist in rehab to point something very important out to me: I had not surrendered.
Since then, I've been working on it, and to be completely honest, it is the hardest thing I've had to do in life so far. But every day I wake up, I try to make the first thing I do pray and ask Him to help me surrender. And by no means is it an easy task, but if I can make the conscious effort to turn as much as I can over to Him, he meets me where I'm at and helps me along.
I read this, and was quite sure that you were talking to me.
lots... then i give it all up to Him... feels good. cuz it's the way it should've been all along =)
That's a hard thing...to give up control. It makes us so vulnerable. But He calls us to have total surrender, and trust Him. We all know what happens when we try to do things our way. I know that there are many times when I've wanted certain things, but His timing has always been perfect everytime.
@Crazy_Train_9000@xanga - I agree with this and the actual post.
We are so scared and nervous sometimes that we don't realize how much we need God in our lives. We can trust him completely.