How often do you hop in the driver seat of your car and go somewhere only your friend, who is sitting the passenger seat, knows where to go? We choose the driver seat because it is our car. We like to be in charge of our things. We are in the car driving to the destination while you interrupt the conversation constantly by asking where your next turn is. If we think about it logically, it would make more sense that the person who knows where to go would be the one driving the car. It would undoubtedly take a little stress off both of you, and the directions wouldn’t interrupt the conversation. But we still hop in the driver seat anyway because it is our car. We have this need to be in control of things that are ours.
When we surrender our life to God, we essentially give up our driving privileges.
When we start to follow God, we say, “God, You know where I need to go. Please take me there.” Is that how it typically goes? Maybe for a short time, but our need for control comes crawling back up, and we tend to retake the wheel. It’s as if we have suddenly figured out where God is taking us and think we can get there safer and quicker. We get this big head, assuming we have it figured out and want to impress God that we know what to do. God hands us the wheel without a word and lets us go where we think we are going. Soon enough, we make a wrong turn and go down a road we were never meant to be on. God is sitting in the driver seat, quiet, waiting for us to realize our mistake. With one wrong turn after another, we eventually get lost.
Some people create their own storms, then get upset when it rains.
In the middle of nowhere, what appears to be a wilderness, what do we do? More often then not, we blame God. We say, “WHY GOD, WHY??? Why did you let me get lost? Why aren’t you giving me directions?” If we think back a little bit, we were the ones who took the wheel, we were the ones who wanted control, and we stopped trusting God. Even if God started telling us directions, we might have told Him, “Yeah, yeah, I got this.” The simple fact, we don’t ‘got this’ and we never will. God hardly ever tells us exactly where we are going and how to get there; instead, He asks us to trust Him.
I think of Abram whenever I start to wonder why God hasn’t told me where I am going. I think of how God essential told Abram to get up and start walking. Abram asked where he was going, and God said, “That way.” Abram, probably pretty confused and maybe a little frustrated at the lack of instructions trusted God and went. The truth is, God gave Abram all the directions He needed, “That way.” God asks us to trust in His plan. He asks us to trust it because we probably wouldn’t understand it if He told us.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28
Getting out of the car and realizing the mistake we have made, we ask God to forgive us. We ask Him to take the wheel back and to direct our lives again. God turns to us, smiles at us, and says, “No problem.” God understands we will continuously want to do it ourselves and He will often let us. He lets us so we can learn that we can’t direct our life and we do need Him in the driver seat.
God wants us to rest in the passenger seat. He wants to enjoy conversations with us and for us to enjoy conversations with Him. He wants us to live in the journey, not get caught up in the destination. When you seem lost and confused about where you are, it might be that you took the wheel. If you feel lost today, hop out of the driver seat, give the wheel back to God, take up the passenger seat, and start talking. Get lost in conversation. Before you know it, God will have you where He was taking you all along; you just needed to trust Him. Remember a few things, God knows what He is doing, we don’t, and the journey will be worth it.
