I used to be a total control freak — a blind control freak. Today, though, I  am a recovering blind control freak. It took me years to figure out that blindness demands I release my need for control.

Without being able to see, I have to risk trusting other people. I have to let go of my perfect timetable and my to-do list. It’s not always easy to let go and trust, but if I don’t choose to risk or release, I truly will never receive what I need.

So, for me, being a  blind control freak is completely counterproductive!

And, can I be honest with the sisters?

Being a control freak, in general, is completely counterproductive, too.

Why? Because demanding or expecting total control all the time in every situation is unrealistic — actually, it’s impossible.

I get it, though. Wanting to control things is a natural response to life. When we feel in control, we feel secure. But when we release our control to someone else, we can feel really uncomfortable.

The problem, though, is that when we try so hard to control everything, we can often find that it is our own insecurity that begins to control us.

An unwillingness to let go simply keeps us locked up. It’s only as we risk trusting God and release our need for control that we truly receive the sense of security we’re longing for.

Letting go and trusting God can feel risky.

Is it risky?

When the Israelites were on their 40-year wilderness excursion, God set up a test to see if they viewed their trust in Him as a risk. God told Moses that each day the people would receive all they needed to eat. Their new menu had only one item on it — manna.

Here’s what God told Moses:

I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way, I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions (Exodus 16:4 NIV).

There was one condition to God’s provision: no hoarding. “No one,” He commanded, “is to keep any of it until morning” (Exodus 16:19 NIV). But some of the Israelites decided that trusting God to provide was way too risky.

They didn’t obey or trust — or whatever you want to call it (there is rarely a separation between trusting and obeying). They wouldn’t let go of their need to control, so they scooped up as much manna as they could and stuck it in their Igloo coolers just in case they needed a midnight snack —or just in case God was busy in the morning when their stomachs began to growl.

Instead of doing what God said, they must have decided that trusting and obeying were just too, too risky.

Hedging their bets didn’t pay off, though. By morning the manna had become putrid. It was spoiled. Unedible. Rancid. Gross. So much for their Plan B.

God chose to make the people of Israel live in daily dependence on Him. The insecurity they faced made them face who they really trusted. Feeling like they weren’t in the driver’s seat demanded that they determine if they could just sit back and go along for the ride.

The wilderness was an opportunity for the Hebrew children to live in utter dependence on God.

We have that same opportunity. The wilderness times in our lives, when we feel the most insecure, when we feel the greatest need for control, can be the times we become the most dependent on God.

Perhaps, if you find yourself in a wilderness, it’s for the very same reason. Maybe God is mercifully giving you a chance to learn how to let go and trust Him?

God allows insecure situations and uncomfortable wilderness times in our lives so we can experience the liberating adventure of trust.

We don’t learn these things lounging by the fire in an easy chair with a remote control in our hands. God invites us to walk through our dark valleys with open hands of trust, rather than hands sweaty and weary from grasping for control.

Grounded, settled security is reserved for those who cast themselves on the faithfulness of God, refusing the temptation to hold back and self-protect.

The Israelites stowed the manna because they weren’t sure God would come through. They needed to hold on to control because they weren’t really sure that God was in control. They couldn’t let go and trust him.

Can you?

Or a better question is… will you?

It is no risk to trust the One who is totally trustworthy. It is no risk to place our faith in the One who is faithful. Why cling to our Plan B’s when we can cling to His promises?

Whatever you face, God really is in control. You can let go and trust Him.

If you aren’t willing to let go, then your hands will not be open to receive what you need.

Just for today, loosen your grip. Trust Him to be in control because He is.

God will come through for you, my friend, because …He who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23 NIV)

You can trust God for today because He holds every day in His hands.

What are you trusting God with this week?