Sunday Read: When Control Becomes Idolatry

King Saul couldn't wait. Samuel had told him to wait seven days for his arrival to offer sacrifices before battle, but when the seventh day came and Samuel was delayed, Saul's army began deserting. Panicked by circumstances spiraling beyond his control, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered the sacrifice himself - directly violating God's command. Samuel's rebuke was devastating: "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God... now your kingdom shall not continue" (1 Samuel 13:13-14).

Control is the modern addiction we rarely name. We control our image through social media curation, our futures through obsessive planning, our relationships through manipulation, our environments through micromanagement. When circumstances refuse to cooperate with our plans, anxiety explodes. When people won't behave as we expect, anger erupts. When outcomes defy our efforts, depression settles in. We've made control our functional savior - the thing we trust to keep us safe, successful, and satisfied.

But the illusion of control is exactly that - an illusion. You don't control your heartbeat, your next breath, whether the sun rises tomorrow. You can't control other people's choices, unexpected disasters, or even your own thoughts half the time. Jesus pointed to this futility: "Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" (Matthew 6:27). Anxiety reveals our attempts to control what we cannot.

The opposite of control isn't chaos - it's trust. When Jesus slept during the storm while his disciples panicked, he wasn't being irresponsible; he was demonstrating trust in his Father's sovereignty (Mark 4:38). When Daniel continued praying despite the king's decree, knowing it would result in the lion's den, he was choosing trust over control (Daniel 6:10). When Mary accepted the angel's announcement that would upend her entire life, she surrendered control with the words, "Let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

Surrendering control feels like death because, in a sense, it is - death to the illusion that we're sovereign over our lives, death to the pride that insists we know best, death to the fear that God won't come through if we're not managing everything. Paul understood this when he wrote, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). The "I" that must control everything has to die before the Christ who controls all things can truly live through us.

What are you trying to control right now that you need to release? What anxiety reveals your attempt to play God in your own life? Where is your need for control actually preventing you from experiencing God's better plans? Surrender isn't giving up - it's opening your clenched fists so God can place something better in your hands. The freedom you're seeking isn't found in controlling more; it's found in trusting more.