Just Put God in Charge

We are conditioned to seek control in all we do, but we must always know that God is in charge. Kevin Johansson suggests that we are best off putting all outcomes in God’s hands.

Lately, I have seen a few “surrender prayers” on YouTube, and they are very good. Yet, it is not easy to “surrender” as we are geared to our roots of needing esteem, control and security.

In reality, however, we have very little control over circumstances, never mind what the gurus preach when they say things like, “You are totally in control and your mind projects your reality.”

Of course, there is some basic truth in this statement, in that it is the mind that interprets the world. But we are never totally in control. So, using some very basic scriptures as anchors I like to consider this: “The Lord directs our steps so why try to understand everything along the way” (Proverbs 20:24). And again Proverbs: “We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines the fall” (Proverbs 16:33).

These scriptures tell me I must be active if I think that this (whatever “this” may be) is the will of God, but that the outcome is up to God, and I will understand that if I surrender my actions to him.

A prayer to see us through

With that in mind, here is an adaptation of the “Serenity Prayer”:

Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I have no control over and their outcomes. The courage and wisdom to change what I can, handing over to you all circumstances with the words, “Lord you take over”.

To learn to live one day and one moment at a time, letting go the past, and leaving the future as you determine the outcome and fall of the dice.

To accept this broken world as it is, knowing that it will all be transformed if I surrender to your will, even when I am not sure I am following the right path.

Accepting that all I experience is within your will that I must endure.

I pray for moments of joy in this life, and eternal joy in my transformation in the next. So be it. Amen.

We often pray the Lord’s Prayer, with the words, “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, Thy will be done…” When we say that, maybe without thinking about it, we ask God to take over the outcome.

If we have already given God the right to choose the outcome, then why are we surprised when our prayers seemingly are not being answered?

Whatever is manifested in the spiritual will manifest in the physical.

Kevin Johansson is a community activist based in the Western Cape.

Published in the March 2024 issue of The Southern Cross magazine