Thanks but No Thanks
By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.
05/23/2021
Be exalted, 0 LORD, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power. (Psalm 21:13)
Do backseat drivers bother you as much as they bother me? When I was in college, I had a roommate who was the world’s worst backseat driver. He did not have a car and I did, so whenever we went somewhere I drove. The fact that he was not sitting behind the wheel seemed lost on him. Every few seconds I would hear, “Your turn is coming up. Take this road. This way is quicker. Change lanes. Watch out for that car. Speed up. Slow down.” It took every fiber of my being to keep from slapping him in the head and shouting, “Hey! Back off! I am quite capable of driving on my own. I do not need any help, thank you very much.” I am sure that my friend never realized how much his passenger-seat antics frustrated me.
I wonder if God ever feels like that. He is the creator of the universe, quite capable of steering this world on His own. Yet, we frequently tell Him how to run the show. In a stunning display of ignorance, we think that our perspective down here on earth is somehow better than God's perspective in heaven. Without realizing it, we catch ourselves explaining things to God. We ask Him for something and then proceed to tell Him why we think He should grant our request. Do we really think God is going to say, “Good point! I had not thought about that. Maybe you are right. Thanks for the heads up.”
King David understood that God does not need man's help to govern. In Psalm 21:13 he writes, “Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength.” In other words, God has plenty of strength and power on His own. There is nothing we can add to God to make Him better or smarter or stronger. The truth is, God does not need anything from us. He desires our fellowship, but He does not need it.
When we pray we are not passing on information that God does not already possess. Our prayers are to flow from a heart of complete and total dependence on God with an understanding that He alone is the source of everything good and right. Jesus demonstrated this attitude when He prayed “Thy will be done.” God wants us to have faith and trust that He will bring us safely through life. That is what the Christian life is all about. We walk by faith and not by sight.
We are all passengers in the capable hands of the Almighty God, and when it comes to backseat drivers, God says, “Thanks, but no thanks.” It is comforting to know that God does not need our help. If we were responsible for leading and directing our own lives, there is no telling where we would end up. I finally got my roommate to quit driving from the passenger seat. On one of our trips, I brought a blindfold with me. The first time he said something, I handed it to him and insisted that he put it on. Then I quoted Psalm 21:13 and let him figure it out.
05/23/2021
Be exalted, 0 LORD, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power. (Psalm 21:13)
Do backseat drivers bother you as much as they bother me? When I was in college, I had a roommate who was the world’s worst backseat driver. He did not have a car and I did, so whenever we went somewhere I drove. The fact that he was not sitting behind the wheel seemed lost on him. Every few seconds I would hear, “Your turn is coming up. Take this road. This way is quicker. Change lanes. Watch out for that car. Speed up. Slow down.” It took every fiber of my being to keep from slapping him in the head and shouting, “Hey! Back off! I am quite capable of driving on my own. I do not need any help, thank you very much.” I am sure that my friend never realized how much his passenger-seat antics frustrated me.
I wonder if God ever feels like that. He is the creator of the universe, quite capable of steering this world on His own. Yet, we frequently tell Him how to run the show. In a stunning display of ignorance, we think that our perspective down here on earth is somehow better than God's perspective in heaven. Without realizing it, we catch ourselves explaining things to God. We ask Him for something and then proceed to tell Him why we think He should grant our request. Do we really think God is going to say, “Good point! I had not thought about that. Maybe you are right. Thanks for the heads up.”
King David understood that God does not need man's help to govern. In Psalm 21:13 he writes, “Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength.” In other words, God has plenty of strength and power on His own. There is nothing we can add to God to make Him better or smarter or stronger. The truth is, God does not need anything from us. He desires our fellowship, but He does not need it.
When we pray we are not passing on information that God does not already possess. Our prayers are to flow from a heart of complete and total dependence on God with an understanding that He alone is the source of everything good and right. Jesus demonstrated this attitude when He prayed “Thy will be done.” God wants us to have faith and trust that He will bring us safely through life. That is what the Christian life is all about. We walk by faith and not by sight.
We are all passengers in the capable hands of the Almighty God, and when it comes to backseat drivers, God says, “Thanks, but no thanks.” It is comforting to know that God does not need our help. If we were responsible for leading and directing our own lives, there is no telling where we would end up. I finally got my roommate to quit driving from the passenger seat. On one of our trips, I brought a blindfold with me. The first time he said something, I handed it to him and insisted that he put it on. Then I quoted Psalm 21:13 and let him figure it out.
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