(ThyBlackMan.com) Is it really possible to put your life in the hands of the Lord? To some modest extent I have experienced the effect of trying to do just that. I can’t say how successful I’ve been but, I ask the question of you because I feel obligated to share the exhilaration. Exhilaration may be a poor choice of words, but it comes close to describing the emotion associated with an honest effort. And, honest effort is again why I ask the question. Is it possible for you to really get inside of what putting your life in the hands of God really means? I can only share with you what I think.
The obstacles in the way of making an honest effort to embrace and step to God are at times huge and obvious. At other times they are so subtle they’re practically indiscernible. For example, pride can get in the way because pride has no place in the relationship between 
you and God. Then the truth be told, pride has no place in your relationships with your fellow man either. To pride, you can always add envy, vanity, greed, lust, selfishness and bitterness just to name a few more impediments to an honest attempt to let God order your steps in His Word. In sports they say it’s not whether you fall or fail, it’s what you do after you fall and fail, because you’re definitely going to do both. Time and again we fall. Time and again we fail. It’s part of the reality of life; also necessary parts of the Christian experience.
The question always has been, what do you do next? Is it possible in the context of your reality to get up dust yourself off and try again to put your life in God’s hands? Many of us, including me, especially me, want to hold on to our own abilities to solve our own problems, cure our own ills (sinful natures) and figure our way out of impossible circumstances by ourselves. We routinely pass judgment, think and act as if we’re better than others and give God no credit for the many blessings we do have.
The positives (of life) are due to our own ingenuity and the negatives are blamed on anybody else but us. Now the question is can you make the effort? Can you let go and let God. Submit first and then see what God has to say about your situation. Without this submission, I don’t think any of us is in a position to first hear and then listen to the Word of God. Y’all know I believe Satan shouts and God whispers. If you’ve ever been whispered to when you think the person speaking is saying something important, then you know your capacity to shut the world up and out. You can be anywhere and hear a whisper, just like a parent who can hear their child’s voice in a sea of young faces on a crowded playground. I believe if we put forth the effort, we can hear God tell us how to give our lives to Him. There is a singularity to hearing God’s Word.
He is specific in what He says to you as opposed to what He says to me. That singularity becomes a plurality as we begin to understand His message, if not His words. They are intended to have the same effect on each of us. It’s like an optical illusion. Once you finally see it, you can’t from that point on, not see it. Once you get someone else to see it, he or she can’t-not recognize it from that point on either. It is, well, exhilarating. Failure is then only a byproduct of lack of effort. But the saved make the sincere effort. It’s not always successful. But it’s always there.
The key is to build upon the successes of putting things in the hands of God is take it one success at a time. Do not, I repeat do not dwell on the failures one failure at a time. Therein lies the answer to my original question. You can do it and God expects it to be done one step, one day and one situation at a time. “So then dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation….” 2 Peter 3:14-15.
Written by James Washington
