2005 - 02 - Who is in Control?

“Hard work always pays off…” Proverbs 14:23
“Put God in charge of your work, and what you’ve planned will take place.” Proverbs 16:3

“Long before you brought earth itself to birth … you are God.” Psalm 90:2
“You own the cosmos – you made everything in it.” Psalm 89

One thing that is true of God, as we see from the verses above, is that God is eternal. Psalm 90 says in the NIV “from everlasting to everlasting” God is God. If it is true that God has no beginning and no end, then we can trace back all creation to God. Let’s take tennis as a for example. Major Walter C. Wingfield of England is credited with inventing the modern tennis game. He is the origin of the game. But where did he come from? He was born of parents, who were born of other parents, back and back and back through generations until at the beginning, God created man and woman. God is the creator, and God is the ultimate origin of all things in this world. Psalm 89 says that God made everything in the world, and owns it all.

Think of this, if I as a musician compose or create a song, I know how it should be played. If I wanted, I could give you the music and let you play it. If you started to play the song and it kept sounding like an ear-wrenching masterpiece of pointless noise, who would you come ask for help? The most logical person to ask would be me, because I created it. I could tell you that the B flat that you kept playing was supposed to be an A, or something like that. Point is, if you let me guide your playing you would sound a lot better, because I composed the piece and know how it is supposed to be played.

It is the same way with our lives. God is the creator of life, God knows how things are supposed to “sound” or “be played.” Our task as Christians is to be in constant communication with the Creator to find out if we are sounding right.

Life is always about control. Who is in control? I am in control of this tennis team, I make decisions about where players are going to play and what we are going to practice. I do this because I know best what the team as a whole needs. As a team, it is your choice to follow me and relinquish your control or to be in rebellion against my leadership and follow your own path.

Life offers the same choice. We should offer our control in life to God, because God is the Creator of all and so God knows how to perfectly orchestrate life. Team Verse #2 says “Put God in charge of your work, and what you’ve planned will take place.” That’s because when we put God in control, God’s plans become our plans, God’s goals become our goals, and God’s will becomes our will. Let’s make it our desire as young men to make God’s desires our number one priority, both this tennis season and more importantly, each day when we wake.