This chapter of your life may be similar to the chapter of life I currently find myself in. This is the chapter best defined as “Now, I let God be God.”

Let’s just let God be God here. Let’s let him work some things out while we get out of the way. Let’s get out of our head, refuse the invitation of overwhelm, and find peace in knowing God already saw all of this coming and he’s not freaking out. His good plans for our lives reach far beyond this chapter. He’s got this and he’s got you. He’s been working behind the scenes in ways you cannot imagine for a future you don’t want to miss.

There’s a simple prayer we can pray today to best cover this chapter of our lives. You know, the chapter where we’re finally ready to get out of the way. The chapter where we’re ready to stop trying to control everything. The chapter where we find provision and peace in God’s providence over every detail of our lives. The chapter where we continually tell hell, NO. No, I refuse the invitation of overwhelm. No, I refuse to worry when I know God is working. No, I refuse to put on the ugly jumpsuit of misery when the beauty of joy fits me so perfectly. Yes, that chapter of life. We’re all there. And here’s our simple prayer:

“God, I have no idea what you’re doing, but I trust you.”

And the moment you sincerely release your grip on how you think it’s supposed to be, and genuinely surrender to God with a faith that doesn’t make sense, I believe God says, “Ahhhhhhh, now I can do my greatest work. My girl is ready!”

Hear that today over your life. Now God can do his greatest work because you are ready. You’re releasing the need to understand and control, and you’re surrendering to God in faith. You have decided to trust God and let him be the God of your life.

When we do this, things have a way of working out. Now, the lesson of 2 boats.

Boat #1: Noah was instructed by God to build this massive boat in the middle of a drought. Not only a drought, but some experts believe the earth had never even seen rain fall from the sky at that point. So, not only did Noah not know how to build a boat, but a boat was totally unnecessary at that point.

So, imagine when God comes to Noah and says in Genesis 6: 14-21, “Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.”

Noah must have been thinking, “A boat? What in the world? What is this for? And why is it so dang big? That’s 1.5 football fields long! That’s a lot of boat, whatever this boat thing is.” So God continues and tells him why a boat.

“Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die. But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”

And this was the chapter of Noah’s life where he decided to just let God be God. He must have prayed the prayer, “God, I have no idea what you’re doing, but I trust you.” Now the next verse, Genesis 6: 22, “So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.”

If God were to make clear your next steps for you today, would you do exactly what he told you to do? Would you do it if it didn’t make sense? Would you do it if you didn’t really want to?

We see an example of what happens when we rely on our feelings more than we rely on our instructions from God. That example is found in Jonah.

Boat #2: 2,000 years after the first boat with Noah, there was another boat. A boat God didn’t orchestrate, that was brought on by fear and bad choices. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. But not on a boat. From where Jonah was, the journey to Nineveh was 500 miles to the east, all by land. There were to be no boats involved. But Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. You know why? Because the people there were believed to be brutal and hated God. Jonah straight up didn’t want to.

And maybe you don’t want to either. You don’t want to do what you need to do here. You don’t want to do the work. You don’t want to deal with the people. You don’t want to try again. But oh the uncessary drama we bring into our lives when we let our “don’t wanna” get in the way of our obedience. When you know God has told you to do something, you have the choice to do it or not. He won’t force you. But when you don’t do it, you will face consequences.

Jonah didn’t want to walk 500 miles to the east to go to Ninevah, so he did precisely the opposite. Jonah 1:3, “But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord.” Enter dramatic music! He hopped on a boat heading west 2,500 miles to Tarshish. He would rather cross the Mediterranean Sea, 5 times the distance, than go where God had told him to go.

Do you know the story of Jonah? Do you know how that ends up working out for him? Yeah, it doesn’t! What happens? On the boat he was never supposed to be on, going in the exact opposite direction of where God instructed him to go, he meets drama.

What unnecessary drama have you created in your life because you’ve been trying to take control of things? What chaos have you orchestrated because you have successfully avoided taking the necessary steps in the direction you were supposed to go in? What absolute mess do you find yourself in as a result of your decisions directed by your feelings of “don’t wanna” and “can’t make me.” Okay girl, you don’t wanna … no one can make you … let’s see how that works out for you.

It works out kinda like Jonah’s journey on a boat he was never supposed to be on, going in the exact opposite direction of his calling.

Verses 4 & 5, “But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the boat apart. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship.”

But of course, the storm continued and it was determined the source of the problem was Jonah running from God. Drama was brought on by him. Chaos ensued because of his disobedience. Jonah says in verse 12, ““Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.”

So, guess what happens? Something miraculous. Something of God’s pure grace and mercy. Jonah is thrown overboard into the wild waves, but he doesn’t drown in the sea. Jonah is given the gift of the hardest, darkest 3 days of his life that would change everything. Verse 17, “Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.”

When Jonah makes it out of that fish alive, you know what the first thing he does is? He finds his way in the right direction!

Yes, God allows our self created chaos and drama. Not to destroy us, but to bring us to a place of complete surrender. Yip, that chapter of “Now, I let God be God.” That simple and powerful prayer of, “God, I have no idea what you’re doing, but I trust you.”

The lesson of the boats. Noah’s boat was a boat that didn’t make sense, but he build it because God told him to. That boat saved his entire family from chaos and destruction. Jonah’s boat was a boat that completely fell apart because he was never supposed to be on it in the first place. That boat brought him to chaos and hardship so he would ultimately surrender to a God who didn’t make sense, but could be trusted. Funny thing is, when Jonah finally went to Nineveh, the place God told him to go but he was too afraid to go, he found the people weren’t wild savage beasts waiting to destroy him after all. They were open and welcoming and waiting for the message of God he carried with him.

Funny how that all works out, huh?

If God is telling you to build a boat. Build a boat in the sand. Even when it doesn’t make sense. Even when you don’t know why or how. Just start building.

If God is telling you to go somewhere, but you don’t wanna. Just go anyway. Don’t jump on the easy boat of escape. Resist the temptation of ease. Ease creates more chaos in our lives than the hard stuff ever does.

God knows what he’s doing. He holds great big, beautiful plans for your life, and he can be trusted. Not always understood, but always trusted.

Are you ready to pray that powerful and simple prayer for this chapter of your life where you just let God be God? Let’s pray: “God, I have no idea what you’re doing, but I trust you.”

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