3 Ways to Let Go and Let God
Don’t Let Go!
Have you ever heard this phrase, “Let go and Let God”?
I remember a few years ago when I was teaching one of my daughter’s to ride her bike, I would run along side her and hold onto the bike so she wouldn’t fall.
She would tell me over and over, “Don’t let go!” And I didn’t want to let go! I didn’t want her to fall. As long as I held on to her I felt like I had some measure of control, that I could control the outcome of that bike ride, and that she needed me to hold on.
Here I Am + Letting Go
So often what happens for so many of us is that we want to hold on, we don’t want to let go, because we don’t want to lose control, because we want to control the outcome, and because we don’t really trust anyone else besides ourselves.
In Isaiah 6, Isaiah has this incredible vision of Heaven. He sees the Lord high and lifted up. He hears the worship of angels crying out,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
And after being purified by fire in the presence of God, he hears God ask this question, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”
And Isaiah famously responds, “Here I am, send me!”
It’s an amazing story, a truly incredible moment in Isaiah’s life. And more often than not, when we read Isaiah’s response we focus on those last two words… “send me.” And it’s good to lean into that part of Isaiah’s response to God.
But before Isaiah said, “send me,” he said these three words that are just as powerful and full of meaning. Isaiah said, “Here I am.”
In his own way in this moment, Isaiah was letting go. And I wonder if some of us need to let go as well and let God have his way in our lives.
3 Ways to Let Go and Let God
1. Letting go of Control.
When we say things like, “Let go and let God,” a lot of times what we mean is that we’ve got to find a way to let go of the hurt, the pain, the problem, or the fear and let God do what God does. Let God heal the hurt and the pain. Let God handle the problem. Let God take our fear, our worry and anxiety away.
Those are all good things. For many of us, we’re trying to do just that! To let go of all those things and let God have his way in our hearts and lives.
But what happens when we not only surrender our hurts, our problems, and our fears to God… but we also surrender CONTROL?
Whether we want to admit it or not, a lot of us are addicted to control. We like being able to control things. But when you let go of trying to control everything, that’s when you let God be God. That’s when you realize who you are and who He is.
But letting go of control means letting go of outcomes.
2. Letting go of Outcomes.
In her book, Invitation to Silence and Solitude, Ruth Haley Barton offers this incredible insight, that when we come “face to face with our addiction to control, there is also an invitation: the invitation to let go and allow God to be in control.”
Of course, the hardest part about that for so many of us is the reality that when we let go of control, then we can’t control the outcome. And if we’re honest, we always want to have our hand in controlling outcomes.
But there is also incredible freedom to be found here.
If we are brave enough to truly let go of control, to trust God with the outcome, then we can actually live in faith. So often what we fail to realize is that whenever we try to control outcomes we forfeit our faith and declare our independence from God. Of course, the irony is that no matter how hard we try we can’t control outcomes.
When we lay down our desire for control at the feet of Jesus and decide instead to live and walk in faith, believing that God is working all things together for our good and for His ultimate glory, something happens.
3. Letting go of Self-Reliance
What happens is that we let go of self-reliance, and we learn to rely on God. Psalm 46.10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.”
Another way to read those words, “Be still” is “Let go of your grip.”
When we let go of whatever is in our grip and approach God with open hands, much like when Isaiah said, “Here I am,” we come before God with open hands, open hearts, and we trust Him no matter the outcome.
Saying Yes Lord to God’s Story
What happens next for Isaiah is almost impossible to imagine. You might think Isaiah would go from this point and have an incredibly successful ministry.
But that’s not what happened. Isaiah learned that he would spend all his days declaring a message from God that the people of God would not hear and to which they would never respond.
Letting go and letting God does not mean God is going to give you what you want or give you success. What it means is that you’re coming before God with open hands and like Isaiah, you want to say, YES, LORD to being a part of God’s story.
Isaiah didn’t have success by the world’s standards, but he did point to a “holy seed” that would one day be the salvation of the world. Isaiah got be a part of the greatest story ever told because he was willing to say Yes Lord. Because he was willing to let go of control, let go of outcomes, let go of self reliance and serve God with open hands.
Open Hands
So let me just ask you, What are you holding onto right now? What are you trying to control? What’s bothering you? What’s keeping you awake at night? What are you afraid to let go of? And what would happen if you held that, whatever it is, with open hands?
In fact, if you’re in a place where you can do this I would invite you to just hold your hands out in front of you like this, with your palms up, hands open. Imagine that whatever it is you’ve been holding onto right now, and it can be anything, imagine holding it right now with open hands before God. And then tell God what it is.
Tell him why you’re afraid to let go of it, to let go of control of it. Then, if you’re brave enough, let go of it and lay it down at his feet. Whatever it is, no matter how big it is, no matter how important to you it is, God is big enough to handle it.
And I want to encourage you after you lay it down in His presence, don’t pick up it up again. Now that you’ve laid it down, now that you’ve “Let go of your grip,” trust God. Let God be God.
Your only job now is to be faithful, to be humble and kind, to be obedient, and to live a life of love. Whatever it is that you just let go of in the presence of God, trust that God will handle the outcome of that situation.
Let Go and Let God Leads to Freedom
As I chased my daughter around the neighborhood on her bike, I eventually had to let go. And when I let go, she was free… and I was, too.
When you let go, you too will find freedom. And you’ll give God freedom in your life to be God over your life. So go ahead, try it. Let go and let God.
Want more from this Series… Click here.
