Is God Your Pilot?

For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

Psalm 48:14

You probably have seen the bumper sticker which says, “God is my copilot.” It sounds nice and very spiritual, until you think about it. God does not want to share the controls over our lives. He wants us to relinquish them and let Him have control of our lives.

The story is told of a little girl whose father was an airline pilot. As they crossed the Atlantic, a storm came up. The flight attendant awakened the little girl and told her to fasten her seat belt because they were in some turbulent weather. The little child opened her eyes, saw the lightning flashing around the plane, and asked, “Is Daddy at the controls?” The flight attendant replied, “Yes, your father is in the cockpit.” The little girl smiled, closed her eyes, and went back to sleep.

God is at the controls of our lives. Or, rather, He wants to be at the controls. But He gives us the freedom to pilot ourselves if we wish. The problem is that we often crack up, much as we could expect to do if we took the controls of an airplane we had not been taught to fly.

God knows us, how we work, and what is best for us. If we will only relinquish the controls to Him, He will see us safely home.

What about you? Who or what is in control of your life? Are you still holding on to the controls, or have you allowed God to take control? What are you waiting for?

Our Father and our God, I bring You my heart and soul. I turn them over to You to lead me, to guide me, to show me how to live as You would have me live. Help me, Lord, to continually allow You to control my life, to be my Master and Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).