I’m a planner. I love making lists, and I love checking off lists. I’m very task-oriented and responsibility-driven. Fulfillment is not only something I enjoy feeling but also something I enjoy doing. I love fulfilling grocery lists, meetings with friends, and the never ending list of chores for our home. I even enjoy planning out my day based on my child’s needs, attempting to control when he eats and sleeps, to ensure the floors get swept and my meetings get met. 

Whether or not you relate to this type of personality, I’m sure we can all relate to the drive for control. We may not always recognize it, but since the Fall of mankind, we all naturally live under the assumption that we control our lives and days. We live as our own king. 

And what happens when that control is challenged? What happens when the baby doesn’t comply to your carefully thought out schedule? How do you respond when your car breaks down on your way to an important meeting? Do you lash out in anger or frustration toward your spouse or whoever is closest to you? Perhaps you hold all your emotions in until you’re alone and comfortable enough to let the tears flow. Or maybe you attempt to control your emotions, ordering yourself to “think positively,” only to find yourself complaining to anyone who gives you an ear. 

We all experience this drive for control. Yet no matter how hard we try to maintain it, our control always gets challenged. When will we (when will I) learn our lesson? The idol of control, which is truly the idol of self, shows up in my heart every single day. If you can relate (and I’m sure you can), here are some Scriptures to meditate on as you seek growth and grace to live not for yourself and your autonomy but for our sovereign Lord who is truly King and who is truly in control (praise God for that!). 

Proverbs 19:1 “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.”

Proverbs 16:9 “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”

Psalm 115:3 “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” 

James 4:13-15 “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’–yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’”

2 Corinthians 5:15 “And [Christ] died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”