Let Go and Let God

I have heard this phrase used religiously over the past years as a form of encouragement to others going through challenges. “Just let go and let God”, in other words, give up on struggling to have things your way and allow God to have His own way. Interestingly enough, we often do this in hesitation or as a last resort.

The focus of Sunday’s message was on Yeshua’s triumphant journey to Jerusalem (Matthew 21) and the false expectations of the people who were excitedly shouting “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”.  As they chanted Hosanna, their expectations were for a King who was about to change the world order as they had known it. Some were expecting an opportunity to pay back the Roman soldiers the evil they had shown them, others were dreaming of the luxurious lives they will be living once Yeshua was in the seat of power, etc. etc. Little did they know that all this was true but not in the context in which they had perceived. Once it became clear that their expectations were not in alignment with what Yeshua was doing, they moved from Hosanna – Save us- to Crucify Him in a matter of five days!

How is that possible? How do you pour out such adulations to someone and turn your back on them in a
matter of days? FALSE EXPECTATIONS!  I am sure many of us will be appalled by the mere thought of falling within this category, yet in many ways if we were to review our past and, in some cases, current actions in truth we might see some parallels. Maybe we would never have the audacity to chant “Crucify Him” but how many times have we gone our own way because we felt what He was asking of us was too much, too tough, too crazy, too boring, too embarrassing, too this, too that?

We are not asking for Him to be crucified, but with our actions (or inactions) and words, we have made the choice to not trust Him – which is exactly what the people did when they moved from “Save us” to “Crucify Him”.  Why not Let go and let God? When dealing with God, and/or others, do we take the time to get to know Him/them in truth or do we make assumptions based on what best suits us? It is so easy to judge the people of old when we read the bible, yet we often, do same or even worse when placed in a similar position. Our expectations of God and others are often unrealistic, especially when we never have the same expectations of ourselves.

So now, when choosing to let go and let God let’s ask ourselves, what are our expectations of Him? Does He have to come through because He is our last resort since we’ve tried everything else and have no more options? Or are we letting as a first response rooted in trust (irrespective of the end result)? May our expectations of Him be aligned with who He really is not only what best suits us. May we stop believing in renditions of God that is in contrast with His word. Most of all, may Yeshua trust us like He trusted the owner of the donkey and colt when He said to His disciples “if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, The Master needs them. And right away he will send them.” (Matthew 21)

Pastor Iris, July 7, 2022