Trusting: Let God Do the Driving

Have you ever had a drive home that didn’t turn out like you planned?

When I was a junior in high school, my cousin, Barbi, and I, drove home together following cheerleading practice. As always, that day was a “never-a-dull-moment-with-my-cuz” day.

As I drove along a country road toward her home, Barbi spontaneously and enthusiastically shouted, “Hey! Let’s trade places!” When she started climbing on my shoulders like we were doing a cheerleading stunt, I knew that she had no intention of waiting for me to stop the car before she pushed me out of the driver’s seat.

Why did she want to do something so dangerous? I don’t know, but a few weeks ago I learned that the frontal lobe of the human brain which controls reasoning and long-term consequences isn’t fully developed until we hit the age of twenty. That explains it. She had part of her brain missing. Poor thing.

“Get off of me!” I shouted. She persisted. Because she was blocking my view, I foolishly surrendered to the unhappy exchange. Within seconds the car slid into the ditch where we stayed until someone came and pulled us out.

When life isn’t going how we’d like, and we don’t trust God, it’s easy to try and take the wheel from Him, to boss Him around, and try and force Him to do things our way. Sadly, this will land even the best person in an emotional and spiritual ditch. Why not let God drive your life instead? Here are three benefits of doing so, especially when life is hard.

Peace

Psalm 46:10 says, “Cease striving and know that I am God.” (NASB) I don’t know about you, but I have never had any success trying to boss someone around while attempting to trust them simultaneously. Trying to be in control and relinquishing control at the same time just doesn’t work; they can’t co-exist inside the same heart. When we let God drive our lives and trust that He knows best, we are able to rest and stop striving, which means that we will ultimately experience peace.

In the original Hebrew language the phrase “cease striving” indicates giving up by letting our hands down. Interesting, huh? This means that you can’t hold the steering wheel and let God drive at the same time if you want to experience the peace that comes from trust. Nope, you’ve got to let your hands down. Let go of the wheel, friend.