Releasing My Life To God’s Care and Control

“He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31 (NKJV) 

As a kid, I liked to play with bubbles, blowing them, popping them, and watching them float down and burst. It’s even more fun with my grandkids now! Bubbles are fragile. They all pop eventually. I’ve found that God loves to burst our bubbles, not because He wants to toy with us, but so we may learn to trust in Him. One of the bubbles He loves to burst is our control bubble. The control bubble fosters a me-first attitude with the illusion that I am in control of my world and it revolves around me. Once that bubble pops we soon discover that the universe doesn’t revolve around us; it revolves around God. In fact, in his short sermon on Mars Hill in Athens, the Apostle Paul said, “In Him (God) we live and move and have our being. …” Acts 17:28 (NIV) This means that every breath we take, every single beat of our heart finds its source in the God who created us for His good pleasure. In Revelation 4:20 (KJV), the Apostle John wrote, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” This is the destined end of all mankind, and you will save yourself a lot of heartache if you pop that bubble of control. It’s a bubble of trouble! But how? How can we break free from the control bubble?

When God made Himself known to Isaiah, he discovered a God who was both all-powerful and all-loving! Isaiah 40:25-31 (NIV) records this, “‘To whom will you compare Me? Or who is My equal?’ says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God’? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Because most of us have a little bit of control freak in us, God has provided two ways for us to burst the bubble of control in our lives and experience the peace that comes from resting in His care and control.  

First, see God as He is. In verse 25, God says, “‘To whom will you compare Me? Or who is My equal?’ says the Holy One.”  Your view of God will affect every area of your life and relationships. If your god is too small you will be filled with anxiety, fear and worry. This is a god created in your image. But the bible says that God created you and me in His image. Are you trying to make God in your own image by comparing Him to yourself or someone else? When you do, you deify man and humanize God. C.S. Lewis said, “I want God, not my idea of God.” When God made Himself known to Isaiah, we discover a God who is all-powerful and all-loving! We see how big God is and how much He cares! To see God as He is, Isaiah 40:26 says, “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”  

When we lift our eyes and look to the heavens, we won’t see God, but we will see the wonder of His creation! It will cause us to quit looking within ourselves for the answer. Those who do that suffer from what one pastor calls “ingrownius eyeballitis.”  It’s spiritual myopia. It distorts our view of God as He really is and causes us to complain like Israel did in verse 27, that God doesn’t care or isn’t fair, when they cried, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God.” Have you ever felt like that? Then step outside this evening and lift up your eyes. Look to the heavens! Expand your view of God and see Him as He is!   

Fifty-six times the Bible uses the word “Almighty” and each one is in reference to God alone! In verse 28, Isaiah writes, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.” He is beyond my comprehension. Evelyn Underhill said, “If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to worship.”  

The clearest picture the world has ever seen of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1:15a (NLT) the Bible tells us, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.”  Through His sacrifice on the cross, we see how much God cares! He conquered sin, death and hell and offered forgiveness and eternal life to you and me! He is both all-powerful and all-loving! This brings us to the next way to burst the bubble of control in our lives. 

Second, surrender to God just as I am. Isaiah wraps up this prophetic passage with hope for all of us in verses 29-31 when he writes, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” 

The New King James Translation substitutes the word “wait” for “hope” in verse 31. “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. …” Waiting is hard. It can create a sense of hopelessness unless our hope is in the Lord and we’ve released our lives into His care and control. To do that, I must surrender to God just as I am. Has all the confusion of our time, the isolation and division around us caused you to grow weary? Does it seem like our world is spiraling out of control and the more you try the less you succeed? Are you feeling weak? Maybe your control bubble just popped, and you don’t know what to do. Take heart, you’re in a good place! Surrender all your fears and worries to God. Put your hope in Him. Wait on Him. He will renew your strength as you learn to rest in His care and control!