Miss Fix-It
A life out of our control is an invitation to abundant living.
We painfully watch our kids load the dishwasher. Unable to contain ourselves, we adjust the cups and bowls, only to inherit teenagers who can’t load the dishes properly.
We cringe prayerfully during seasons of waiting. Unable to accept that the Lord has a different plan, we take the first steps into a man-made solution that prolongs God’s blessings.
We anxiously insert ourselves into circumstances or solutions and unknowingly rob ourselves and others from the opportunity to walk by faith.
The slippery slope for The Fixer is that our ways are effective for a time and to a certain degree. We hang our hats on the situations that we were able to “fix,” not knowing that what seems right to us can end up hurting the very people we hope to help. Often times we will never know the extent of damage that our “fixing” has cost others. With the stubborn blinders of thinking that we know what is best, we see only what tells us that we were right all along.
At the center of the need to insert ourselves to work out what seems best to us is idolatry.
We look to the person of Jezebel to learn how disastrous idolatry of control can be. Jezebel was a devoted worshipper: tenacious and driven by what her heart worshipped. The problem was that God was not the one that she worshipped. She worshipped Baal and, ultimately, she worshipped her own ability to perceive and control her preferred outcomes.
Jezebel was an objectively wicked character in Scripture – she murdered prophets of the Lord, threatened Elijah to the point that he wanted to quit, murdered to give her husband what he wanted, incited wickedness in her husband and, to her last breath she stubbornly rejected the Lord. It’s tempting to read her story and dismiss any personal application.
When we get down to the roots of her proud resolution we see a woman who believed she was right at every turn and was willing to “fix” things at any cost or die trying. It is so human to insist on our own way.
Walking with Jesus tells us –
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
To truly worship God, we must first confess what we have already enthroned in our hearts. We must put to death anything that competes for the worship of God, even if it seems innocent enough or right in our eyes. The standard for holiness is not what I think is okay, it is God alone. Obsessing over specific answers to my prayers is not faith, it is an attempt at control and ultimately a fast-track to the pit of bitterness. A laser focus on preferred outcomes eclipses my focus on God.
We can ask ourselves a few questions to see whether or not we have idolized our own understanding:
Am I focused on how I’m feeling rather than being faithful?
Have I stubbornly refused to submit to the Lord’s plan – especially if its undesirable to me?
Am I set on my rights, opinions, and wants when I pray?
We have a crossroads before us: to incite faithfulness in our homes or erect idols of self. Our influence for the Kingdom begins with our own submission to the Lord. If we are devoted, may it be unto the Lord; If worshippers, of God alone; if tenacious, for God’s glory.
Jezebel refused to submit her plans to God. She became the emblem for toxic femininity and a gruesome picture of what happens when we try to out-control the God of the universe.
Just because our circumstances require our surrender and possibly even our grieving - does not mean that things are out of God’s control. It is so like God to arrange circumstances that sanctify our hearts through our surrender. When we find in our hearts a panicked desire to control, it might be that God is exposing an idol in our hearts that He wants us to see and turn away from.
In my experience, idolatry can creep subtly into our hearts in the name of agendas and injustice. Idolatry can sneak up next to our desires for the good of our family and convince us that it isn’t a sin we need to repent of, merely a personality quirk that can drive our loved ones crazy.
Repentance may look ridiculous at first; like not moving the cup that it so clearly inserted incorrectly into the dishwasher. Bit by bit that small act will lead to a greater understanding of the damage that idolatry of control has caused and we find ourselves not kicking and screaming in an unresolved circumstance or a hard season of life.
This doesn’t mean we become ice princesses in the face of hardship! We can grieve our disappointment while singing “I Trust in God”. Wrestling with what seems good to us into the hands of God is an act of faith. God uses the uncertainties of this life to work out in us a fortified faith that will stand firm in the storm.
Jezebel died insisting on her own way. As believers we are invited into a different way of living; a life that surrenders its rights in order to have the privilege of peace and puts to death what is earthly in order to live to God.
A life out of our control is an invitation to abundant living.
Lord, help us to trust that only You can orchestrate an outcome that simultaneously sanctifies us and glorifies Your name. Give us faith to trust that You are always working, even when we don’t understand. Teach us to remember that You are always in control, even when it seems like You aren’t.