The Dangers of Overcontrol

When we’re setting up cameras for production, we must make all of the final adjustments from the production suit. While good, the viewfinder on the camera does not give you the complete picture for the final shot. This is simply the limitations of any video equipment and is key for a videographer to understand when shooting. The person adjusting the camera must trust the producer and not rely on his own understand of the picture he is seeing.

This is no different than our walk with the Lord. We can not see everything that is at work in His plan for our lives. We must learn to trust Him and be obedient to his leading. This will always be hard for us because the enemy is constantly at work telling us we must have absolute control over our lives and circumstances or things will spin out of control.

Yes, you have to work and yes you have to pay your bills, but we must find the balance of letting go and letting God be in control. That is only possible by being plugged into the source of the plan. As we make the final camera adjustments, the producer is telling the camera man over the radio to tilt up or zoom in or pan left to get the perfect picture for production.

With experience, the camera man gets better at seeing the final picture and only needs small tweaks from the producer. So it is with our Lord and the picture He has for our lives, the closer we get to Him, the better we understand His path for our lives.

Blessings

The Dangers of Overcontrol
by Os Hillman

“For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.” – 1 Samuel 15:23

A friend of mine who is a jet pilot once told me that whenever a jet goes out of control and begins to spin, the only thing to do is totally take your hands off the controls and the plane will right itself. This goes against our natural inclination to control and manipulate in order to bring things back under control. It is scary to be out of control. Or is it?

Saul was a man out of control. He was losing control of his kingdom to David. He was losing the favor of God and the people. It began as compromises. Eventually he was given a final test to obey the voice of God fully. He was instructed to kill the Amalekites completely; but he failed to follow through. The prophet Samuel delivered a hard word to King Saul, “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king” (see 1 Sam. 15:26). Saul obeyed partially, but not fully. It was partial obedience that led to his removal as king of Israel and his calling from God. But why did Saul do such a thing? “I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them” (1 Sam. 15:24b). Saul’s fear and insecurity made him more afraid of the people and what they thought than of God. At the core of Saul’s disobedience was fear of losing control. That fear of losing control led to partial obedience and the loss of his reign as king.

How many of us are in danger of losing God’s blessing due to partial obedience? How many of us have such a need to control people and circumstances that we fail to fully walk in obedience to God’s voice in our lives? Saul provides a great lesson for us as workplace believers. The need to overcontrol things around us can prevent us from receiving all that God has for us. Today, take an inventory of your control quotient.

Ask God if you are being fully obedient to what He has called you to do this day, and avoid being put on the shelf for disobedience. “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22b).