Last week one of my peers who had returned from vacation said, “Gee, if the last few days back have been any indication of what lies ahead, we are all doomed to exhaustion”.

And it is true the first two weeks back in the office have been breathtaking (as in sucking the life out of you). I’ve had meeting after meeting, goals established that look impossible, financial targets that are significant, and I’ve once again come to realize just how much of my life is outside my control. And not just at work.

It’s been said that most of our stress comes from the failure to recognize the difference between a problem and a fact. Problems you can work on, facts are just facts and no amount of consternation will change a fact. The stress comes from trying to change facts rather than working problems.

That may be true, but my problems (not just the facts) are utterly overwhelming and sometimes just thinking about working on my problems and challenges wears me out.

Do you feel like it’s all out of your control like I do? Do you try to control it all?

It’s hard for us to admit we are out of control. And yet I believe that is exactly where God wants us. He places us in situations that obliterate our ability to control outcomes. Why? So that we can learn to rest in the fact that He does control outcomes and He “works all things for our good” (Romans 8:28).

God says He will work all things for our good (Rom. 8:28), but we want to work things for our good ourselves.

Working things for our good ourselves is foolish in a couple ways:

1. How do we know what is “for our good”? We are not omniscient like God is – what makes us think we can do a better job than He can? It’s the height of arrogance.

2. It is the utmost in idolatry to try to control what only God can. You’d think we believed we were God by the way we act sometimes!

Let me tell you something that I don’t want you to forget when you feel out of control, overwhelmed, and exhausted:

It is a huge relief not to have to be God.

So, let God be God, be faithful as you can where He’s called you, and then go out and get a milkshake. It will be alright. He’s promised. And He never breaks His promises.

Questions: What are you trying desperately to control and as a result feeling anxious and confused and helpless? What will you do with this opportunity to relinquish control?