Let God and Let God

Grace and peace dear readers!  I will be taking the next couple of days off from working and writing this week--but never fear, I'll be back on Monday!  Have a great rest of your week, and I hope you enjoy today's Devo. 

There's this phrase that gets bandied about in church-y world, and I used to think that it was just one of those things that church-y people said, like "I'll be praying for you," or "God doesn't give you more than you can handle." 

By the way, that last thing is not in the Bible, no matter how many times people try to say it is. 

So back to the phrase that I mentioned, and which is almost assuredly familiar to you in one way or another:  

Let go and let God. 

I've heard that phrase my whole life---uttered by preachers, Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, random church-y people, you name it.  Heck, I've even said it a time or two.  

Like I said, it's one of those phrases that I thought was only really shared within a church-y context by church-y people because it sounds so... well... church-y. 

But I've come to realize that Let go and let God is a phrase that transcends church, and undoubtedly contains one of the most important truths we can learn about ourselves and God, which is simply this: 

When we surrender our outcomes to God, we are set free to become the people we were always meant to be. 

While it might be easy to say, Let go and let God is a lot harder than it sounds. The first part of that phrase is the most critical part, and it's also the most difficult because most of us don't want to let go of our need to control our outcomes. 

In fact, we will often do whatever it takes to retain control over even the simplest things in our lives, hanging on for dear life, and refusing to relinquish our grip even if what we're clinging to is merely the illusion that we're in control. 

Which is most likely the case, am I right? Because no matter how hard any of us try, we can't control every outcome, and even the outcomes in our lives we think we were able to manage probably could have gone another direction very easily.  

Listen, there are times when I've wrestled with God over control of a situation or an outcome and thought that I had it all covered only to find out that God's purposes were not only at work all along, they were the right course for me as well.  

I had this friend who would often share one of his favorite very Southern colloquialisms with me when he had one of those "aha!" moments.  He would say: 

God takes care of fools and children, and I'm no child.

Theologically, that phrase is a mess, but the sentiment behind it is right on the money.  God frequently acts in our lives to show us a better way forward, to clarify God's purposes for us, and sometimes that looks like saving us from ourselves. 

When I've looked back on those moments, I realize that I'd been moving forward, swept along in the flow of God's Spirit, hurtling toward God's purpose for me in a given situation, but I had worn myself out fighting the current. 

So when I say Let go and let God, I'm not only acknowledging that God knows more than I do about what's best for my life, I'm also acknowledging that I'd have a heckuva lot more peace by embracing that fact, and surrendering all my outcomes to God sooner rather than later. 

None of this is easy, to be fair.   It takes daily work, prayer, discipline and humility--none of which are all that simple given the stresses and complications of our everyday lives right now. 

But try it.  I will do my best to do the same.  Let go and let God.  Surrender our outcomes, so we can find real direction and purpose as well as incredible peace.  

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.