Let go and let God be God by Stephen Wruck
Last week in our Church calendar was Trinity Sunday. The theme that ran through the day was “Let go and let God be God.”
It prompted me to think about the story in the gospels about Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. If you were to ask me to list the top 5 bible stories that have had the most impact on me, this would be in the list.
Here we have Jesus, after the last supper, just prior to His betrayal and arrest. He knows exactly what he is facing – a torturous death as He takes on the sins if the world. But even worse, feeling separated from the Father – something Jesus has not experienced in eternity.
Paraphrasing the gospel accounts, He retreats to the garden, he understands that for the Father, everything is possible and pleads for the Father to find another way. BUT, His overriding wish is for the Father’s will to be done.
“May Your will be done.” By definition, “God’s will” is the best possible option in any situation. But that can be a tough call. In any given situation, I may not understand the how and why of ‘God’s will’. I feel like I should be providing a solution, and ‘letting go and letting God be God’ can feel like a cop out or ignoring responsibility.
But, here is Jesus, facing unimaginable mental and physical torture and His response is to ‘let go and let God be God’. It is confronting, but letting go can be liberating. To understand that God has a plan – the best plan – and our job is not necessarily to build our own plan, but to find and follow His can be hard to put into practice.
For me, ‘letting go and letting God be God’ is a constant battle. But I have found that when I manage to do it, especially in difficult times, the result is liberating and the release of burden can be profound.