With a smirky smile and a cutting glance, she said, “RUTD” (an invented acronym meaning Resist the Urge to Drive).

My wife and I were on a one-day excursion to the mountains. She was driving, and the acronym was to remind me I wasn’t. By her own admission, she has a heavy foot; I was simply trying to keep her from getting a speeding ticket we didn’t have funds to fund. She didn’t see it that way. I was attempting to usurp her authority behind the wheel.

God probably interpreted Abraham and Sarai’s actions similarly. His promise of a son in their old age wasn’t materializing quickly enough so they took the wheel from God. “So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife” (Genesis 16:3 NLT). A son was born-but not the one God promised.

I’ve been known to maneuver the steering wheel from God a time or two myself. He wasn’t acting quickly enough . . . I thought I knew a better avenue. After all, discerning his activity in my life isn’t always easy. Neither is being certain that I’m following correctly what I perceive as his leading.

But this I know. When I get ahead or behind God, attempt to manipulate his plan, or come up with my own plan, life crashes rapidly. God’s plans are always better. My duty is to discover them and follow them to the letter. They may be different than mine-and I may have to bite my tongue to keep from saying something that would evoke a response of, “Don’t drive when I am,” but following his plan will propel me into a bright future I could never manufacture on my own.

Who’s behind the wheel of your life? God or you?

Prayer: All powerful God, give us faith and courage to relinquish our lives completely to Your plan and purpose.

Martin Wiles
Hodges, South Carolina, USA