Sometimes we try very hard to make the decisions that are not ours to make. We want to control the circumstances around us. We want to mandate the actions and attitudes of others. On some level, what we really want is to be God.
The first sin in The Garden was man wanting to take God’s place, to steward the mysteries. To know the secret things. To be in charge. To be sovereign.
Only God is God.
We are minor characters in the cosmic story. But we are minor characters with a major impact. Our choices matter. They matter for us and for those around us. For the lives we are living and the legacy we leave the generations after us. Our choices are important for today and for Eternity.
The key is to let go of the choices that do not belong to us and focus on how to steward the ones that do. One of the tragic side-effects of trying to control what only God can control is that we overlook what choices are available to us. We underestimate the weight they carry. We ignore them or take them for granted.
The covenant God makes with the Old Testament fathers is two-way: for them to make choices with what God has granted them stewardship over and to trust God with everything else. The same applies to all of us today.