Delusions Of Control

Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
–Psalm 100:3

The lie that was the foundation for the first sin–and every sin since then–is this: “You do not have what you need to be happy.” Once you fall for that lie, you are susceptible to the second lie found in Genesis 3: “You are in control of your destiny.” When we believe that God has given us what we need to be happy in life, we determine that we need to take control of our own lives if we are truly going to be fulfilled.

That is exactly the lie that Satan next used against Eve. Look verse 5: “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan was saying to Eve what he says to so many of us: “The reason you do not have this particular thing you think you need is because God does not want you to experience happiness in life. If you want to be truly fulfilled, you need to take matters into your own hands.” Eve forgot that every good thing in her life–her idyllic home in the garden, her hunk of a husband–was a result of God’s grace. Somehow she deluded herself into thinking she was responsible for those things, so she said, “The next logical step for me to get what I really need is to move out from under the will of God and to start running things on my own.”

You see that same spirit of independence in the world today. Have you ever been to a high school or college graduation where someone read the poem “Invictus”? The last couple of lines say, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” No. The Word of God says we are not the masters of our fate or the captains of our soul. Psalm 100:3 says, “Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” Yes, it appears every day that we make choices that determine our life and our destiny, but even these choices we seemingly make every day fall within the boundaries of the sovereign will of God for us. God is our Creator; He determines our fate.

Imagine you are on a cruise. As you sail across the ocean, you have all kinds of choices about what to do. Are you going to sleep in or get up early? Are you going to go to the midnight buffet or exercise some self-control? Are you going to read a book or take a nap? You seemingly have all of these choices, but ultimately the ship is heading toward a certain destination and will arrive at a certain time. The destiny of that ship is dependent not upon your choices, but upon the captain. In the same way, we make choices every day, but we have a Captain who is ultimately in control of our lives. We are not in control of our own destiny.

Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Satan’s Four Favorite Lies” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2010.

William Ernest Henley, “Invictus,” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51642/invictus.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.