The Pressure Is Off

“Has the Lord not taken the lead?” (Judges 4:14, NET).

Do you sometimes experience an unsettled feeling when you are wondering what to do next? Like the responsibility for figuring it out is weighing heavy on you?

I have beautiful news for you. You don’t need to figure it out. Instead, you need to snuggle into Daddy’s embrace. The pressure is off. Our verse for today asks us a pointed question. “Has the Lord not taken the lead?”  Yes. He has. No figuring it out is necessary at all. Our role is simply to follow His lead.

I’ll share a personal story with you that illustrates this concept. When I was married in 2001, we faced the challenge of having our family and friends evenly distributed between North and South America. Most people can’t easily make international trips to attend weddings. Our solution was to have two of them. It was the best of both worlds for me. I had the joy of planning our Tucson wedding according to the delights of my heart, in colors and in ceremony.

And I also had the joy of just popping up in Peru with a wedding dress for our Iquitos wedding. I contributed absolutely nothing else to the planning or execution of the ceremony down here. I had the privilege of just showing up and enjoying what had been planned for me.

My Peruvian family worked hard to plan our special day for us. Every beautiful detail they prepared was a special surprise for me. What an unforgettable, stress-free experience!

Just show up and enjoy. This is a wonderful spiritual picture of how the Father intends for us to do life with Him. He wants to open our eyes to see our life as something He is actively authoring, leading, and executing. He has fully taken the lead.

With immense love He is managing every detail and every moment… including all of the responsibilities He has entrusted to you. He has a perfect blueprint for each of them. You get to show up each day in His presence and enjoy what He has planned. He will take you by the hand and lead you through each step as He orchestrates it. “I am the Lord; I have called you… I will take you by the hand…” (Isa 42:6, ESV).

This is how our Teacher showed us how to do it. “So Jesus answered them, ‘I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise’” (John 5:19, NET). Daddy God makes the plans. He takes the lead. We stay hand in hand with Him and watch His cues. We do whatever He is doing, enjoying His company as we go.

Then this becomes our reality: “I will find delight in your commands, which I love” (Ps. 119:47, NET). This verse means that we delight in His initiative to personally guide our every moment. We take great joy in His intimate lead.

So, dear one, relax. Snuggle in and enjoy His attentive, tender leadership of your day today. Any time that feeling of heaviness tries to get on you, speak to your soul. Say lovingly, “Shhhhh. Rest. Has my Daddy not taken the lead?”

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What does it look like to let Him lead in your areas of responsibility?