There are times in life that God, who we are taught has everything under control, seems to be absent and powerless. Here we stand, alone with the elements beating and battering, barely able to endure the onslaught, wondering where God is in all this. We feel like the picture, that we are caught in one storm after another. God seems so far from the personal God that we are taught He is. It is difficult to imagine that anyone cares and even more so that God cares when our lives move from "tornado watch to "tornado warning" to touchdown. Perhaps it is not so much that God has abandoned us, but that we have lost any control that we had over our lives. Face it, the issue boils down to whether we can trust a God separate from ourselves. God doesn't leave us. We step away. He still has everything under control. The person that does not have everything under control in these difficult circumstances is us. We have a choice at this point. Trust God or trust ourselves. Which do you think is more reliable? We can attempt to handle all our own situations, but there will come a time when that is impossible. I guess the greatest advantage in trusting God is the amount of stress that relieves. I am not advocating giving up and taking the approach that God does all the work in resolving the issue. Give the worrying over to God, and push up your sleeves and get to work helping Him to help you. I recognize that when you work alongside God to fix your problem, it is tempting to take all the credit for getting through the difficulty. If you do, who do you think is acting as if they are God? Who do you think is controlling your world? Be careful that you are not your own god. What is most important to you? Whatever it is, is the god of your life. Is it money, power, control, family, job. . . . ?
