It was raining heavily on a Sunday morning. But it was necessary that I moved out for service. I picked up an umbrella and moved out. But then, on the way, I saw a man and a young girl, obviously his daughter. He held an umbrella covering both of them from the rain, most especially the little girl. But then, the girl began to complain that she wants to hold the umbrella herself.
She kept on disturbing her father to give her the umbrella. He was tired of refusing her, so he gave it to her since the rain was reducing at the point. But as soon as she got it, she just couldn’t control the umbrella, as they kept moving it here and there until her father took it back.
And at that point, I wondered, if this girl is just like the typical everybody that wants to be in control of their umbrella (lives). We all want to control everything in our lives. We want to be able to understand everything, plan for everything, provide everything, etc.
We don’t feel that there’s any need for us to trust God or someone for everything. So we work so hard to be the best, to do what others cannot do so that we can be in control of our lives.
But if we really could be in control of our lives, we wouldn’t need God. Someone once said that Nigerians become less religious when they travel abroad because most of the things they strive and struggle to get are already being provided by the government.
However, the relationship God desires with us isn’t about us getting what we want. The truth is man is just inherently selfish, wanting to get what he wants for himself and nothing more.
God desires a love relationship, not an obligatory relationship. He really wants us to come to him, not first because we have things we cannot do by ourselves, but because we see him as a father, and we really want to be with Him. He wants us to come to a place of intimacy, not transaction.
So, we should stop trying to take over our lives for ourselves, trying to handle everything with our wisdom and power. We are created to be dependent on God, not independent. God even gave us help in the HolySpirit. He wouldn’t have given us help if we could handle it ourselves. But He recognizes that we have to be dependent on Him. Matthew 5:3 “God blesses those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them. (NLT).
