Sometimes I feel like a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. Like many of you, I wear different hats based on the role that I’m assigned to play. I have my husband hat, my dad hat, my pastor hat, my son hat, my brother hat, and my friend hat. On any given day, no matter what hat I’m wearing, I can find myself saying, “I have no idea what I’m doing.” Does anyone feel me?
As a result, one of the prayers that I pray the most is based on the promise of James 1:5, which says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” Because I feel like I constantly lack wisdom, I find great comfort in knowing that I can constantly ask my infinitely wise Father for it. And true to His Word, God has often given me the wisdom that I needed when I needed it. Yet on numerous occasions, God has answered my prayers for wisdom–not by showing me what to do or what to say or what not to say or what not to do—but by simply inviting me into places where I could learn the wisdom of simply trusting Him. That trust eventually leads me to see His wisdom.
When a crowd of hungry people were getting restless in a remote countryside near the Sea of Galilee, Jesus asked his disciples how they were going to feed the people. Neither Phillip nor Andrew could figure out a solution. John says that Jesus asked, even though he already knew what he was going to do. He already had the answer that they didn’t have. But a young boy brought five fish and two loaves of bread, seemingly oblivious to the fact that such a small offering would only feed .01% of the crowd. But here’s the thing: the boy didn’t care! He knew that it wasn’t up to him to figure out how to feed the crowds. Jesus would take care of that. All he knew was that he had to do his part and trust that Jesus would figure out the rest.
That’s how Jesus often seems to work.
Peter didn’t need to figure out how to defy gravity and walk on water. He just needed to get out of the boat and trust Jesus. The servants at the wedding at Cana didn’t need to figure out how they would get wine for the wedding. They just needed to fill the jars with water and trust Jesus.
The invalid at the pool of Bethesda didn’t need to figure out how he was going to pick up his mat and walk. He just needed to take a step and trust Jesus.
It’s not our job to come up with a plan and present it to God. It’s not our job to figure out and tell God how He should solve our problems, fix our messes, provide the funds, or change people’s hearts. That’s His job! It’s our job to go to Him, bring our needs to Him, and to trust Him with our situation.
Someone once asked Mother Theresa to pray for him. When she asked what his prayer request was, he said, “I want to have clarity to know what my mission in life is.” She said to him, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and you must let go of it. It’s not clarity that you need. It’s trust.”
There is so much wisdom in that. And there is so much comfort in that.
I don’t need to figure it out. I don’t need to have all the answers. I don’t need to have clarity. And neither do you. We just need to trust and let God figure it out. That is so liberating.
I’m certainly glad that God didn’t tell me to figure out how to save myself, how to get in His good graces, how an imperfect person could make it into a perfect Heaven. He did that for us in Jesus. Who would have devised such a plan to save the world? Who could have? But thank God that we didn’t have to. All we need to do is trust.
This article is part of the Leaders’ Line blog, written by various leaders and geared specifically toward those serving in leadership. Our email newsletter goes out twice a month. In addition to Leaders’ Line articles, each newsletter includes news and notes curated especially for ministry leaders. Sign up here to receive it directly in your inbox.