“If you can’t control your peanut butter, you can’t expect to control your life.”
― Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes
When I sit down for a meal, the first thing I do is ensure my knife, salad fork, dinner fork and soup spoon are aligned, and no more than seven ice cubes afloat in my organically farmed water. The room temperature must be 71 degrees at lunch, 72 is tolerable for dinner. I like things to be orderly, for example, the soups in my pantry alphabetized. Standards must be kept, I produced a nine-part series on the proper folding of socks.
If only I were kidding. Control is a big thing for me/we. I like my plans to work, I’m not crazy about disruptions.
We worship the God of disruptions. He likes to redirect, misdirect, block and tackle, and sometimes He allows a virus the size of one-nine hundredth of a human hair, to shut down nations. Why does He do this? Near as i can tell from diving into scripture is He first and foremost wants us dependent on Him for all things. He wants us aware of our limitations versus His infinite power. It’s not an ego trip for Him, but more of a bitch slap for our hubris. We like to congratulate ourselves on goals achieved and destinies met, and occasionally, we actually acknowledge the help getting there.
If humility were a soda-pop, I’m not sure it would sell. Shelves filled with Red Bull, Monster, Amp Energy, and Full Throttle, don’t paint a picture of my dreams being second to yours. Our need to go for control ― and vanity license plates ― started very early in our history. Scripture is littered with examples, this in Genesis 11:4-7, known as the Tower of Babel.
“Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.'”
We do like to make a name for ourselves. For clarity, it’s wonderful to believe nothing is impossible when we collectively harness our capabilities. The key is to remember every last detail of forward momentum came from the Lord, NOT us. On a side note, don’t miss this Old Testament reference to the Trinity, “let us go down and confuse their language.”
This past two weeks have seen our sense of control to be a house of cards built on matchsticks with a foundation of quicksand. Rev Chris Elkins, Brand Director for Denison Forum says this:
“The reality of uncertainty and the absence of control are the most distressing things I am experiencing in all of this. There’s no certainty about how this virus will spread or whom it will impact. The economic uncertainty is palpable. As well, I have zero control of the stock market, the hoarding, or people’s compliance to guidelines. I find all of this troubling and deeply distressing.”
“Coronavirus did not create this reality—it just made it clear. To this point, I have mistakenly confused a measure of material success with the myth of certainty. Nothing in this world is certain, no matter the balance in my checking account or the investments in my retirement plan. Control is an illusion. I often cannot even control myself, much less anything outside of me.”
He adds: “The myth of certainty and the illusion of control are the result of the devil’s oldest temptation: being like God. God’s word is all I have that is certain.”
The words bring a hope amidst the chill, very much needed in these times. Loss of control, whether recognition of how our global leaders can’t fix everything, or savings being obliterated, whatever the negative in the moment; if the outcome results in masses of people falling on their knees in concession of the Lord being the only reasonable option? Then with 100% certainty, there will come a time in 10,000 years when we’re living in a resurrected world, where loss of control was the best thing for us.
See ya next time. ML