God: Who Needs Him?

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A very close family member of mine suffered from Parkinson’s disease for the last decade. If you or anyone you care about has PD, then you know how debilitating this disease can be. For those of you fortunate enough to have never seen its devastating effects, let me sum it up for you: it is a neurological disorder where the brain does not produce enough dopamine. Over time you experience severe and uncontrollable tremors in your body. Your strength is slowly evaporated and eventually you are a mere vestige of your former self. However, there is a lot that this disease can teach us about life.

Michael J. Fox, known for his roles on Family Ties and the Back to the Future series, is the probably the most notable person with PD. In his 2010 book, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Future, Fox offers some good advice that he learned from having PD:

Parkinson’s is a perfect metaphor for lack of control. Every unwanted movement in my hand or arm, every twitch that I cannot anticipate or arrest, is a reminder that even in the domain of my own being, I am not calling the shots. (p. 84, emp. mine)

While Fox is referring to the involuntary movements he faces due to his PD, his observation still holds true.  One of the hardest things to do is to admit that we are not calling the shots. There is nothing more enticing than control. We love it, crave it, and would do virtually anything to retain it. As human beings, we like to believe that we are in perfect control of everything in our lives.

If you’ve ever watched television, then you’ve seen this scenario play out a dozen times: a seemingly untouchable leader’s power slowly begins to erode and another person anxiously waits to snag it. The outgoing leader often loses touch with reality and commits atrocities in order to retain control. While that makes for a good Hollywood action film, we need to realize that is not reality.

King Saul had strayed from God. He began to think he was in complete control and abandoned God in the process. As a result, God begin preparing a young man by the name of David to take the throne. David, son of Jesse, had the “Midas touch” so to speak. Everything he did he was a success, because he was committed to God and God was with him! People gravitated towards this new and Godly man.

Saul DID NOT like this, and the erosion of his power caused his mental state to deteriorate rapidly. To list all of his grievances due to his jealousy towards David would take up a great deal of space. However, his depraved mind led him to make several attempts on David’s life. In 1 Samuel 22:18-19, Saul orders Doeg to kill the priests of God,

“Saul turned to Doeg, who was from Edom, and said, “Kill the priests!” On that same day, Doeg killed eighty-five priests. Then he attacked the town of Nob, where the priests had lived, and he killed everyone there—men, women, children, and babies. He even killed their cattle, donkeys, and sheep.”

What can we learn from all of this? Submit wholly to God and recognize his complete control. One can only imagine how great of a king Saul could’ve been had he stayed committed to the Lord. A wise professor of mine once said, “The key to having power is to freely give it away.” The secret to a successful life is to, as the saying goes, “Let go, and let God.”