“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart …” (Psalm 95:6-8)
Our lives don’t end up in God’s hands by accident. When God calls us to repent, He calls us to surrender to His Lordship. We make a conscious decision to stop running from Him and we place ourselves under His care and direction. This is a purposeful choice that arises out of the conviction that He will do a far better job at running our life than we have.
The new order of things that began with our surrender continues with our submission. Each day, as those who are holy, elect, and beloved, we make a decision to let God be God. Our testimony is to be the testimony of the well-beloved Son: “Not my will, but Thine be done.” This kind of lifestyle is not forced on us; it is ours to embrace or refuse. In Christ, we have been freed from the dominion of sin so we can freely, willingly give ourselves to God. There is nothing stopping our obedience now. The Son has made us free indeed. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. But we can also fall short of our calling and go back to being in charge.
Satan doesn’t care how you worship him. He is an oppressor and he will bring you to your knees any way he can. Not so with God. The worship He seeks is always voluntary. But even after receiving so great a salvation which has perfectly positioned you to worship God in spirit and in truth – giving Him the power, honor, and glory He deserves – you can once again grab control of your life.
Our life is in God’s hands because we put it there. Don’t expect Him to keep you when you are still living like a lost sheep who goes his own way. Be His sheep indeed, by giving Him total control, and daily hearing His voice.