Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. 1 Kings 17:3
This well-meaning phrase pops up in my life occasionally – Jesus, take the wheel. Recognizing that following self has led to misery, it’s meant to be an expression of submission to God’s will. Every time I hear it, I wonder what it would be like. What if Jesus just had complete control over my behavior? If I only ate that which was healthy and necessary for my body, what would I look like? What would I sound like if I only said things that Christ wanted me to say? And how different would my life be if I only engaged in behavior which he endorsed? I know that I retain appetites that are self-destructive, and I know that daily, I do things that aren’t good for me, physically, emotionally, or spiritually. So, I find myself wishing that Jesus would just take the wheel, that he would simply assume control of my decision making because often, my decision maker appears to be broken.
This seems to be what happened to Elijah, a prophet of God, in today’s passage. In the story, Elijah delivered new of judgment to King Ahab, which meant Elijah’s life was at risk. So, God sent him off to hide. God told him where to live, what to drink, and what to eat. Every detail of Elijah’s life, it seems, was dictated by God.
Like I said, I find this concept to be attractive. I know what a disaster I can produce when I go my way. And I believe that God doesn’t want me to be overweight, addicted, or greedy. So, maybe I should just ask Jesus to take the wheel. Here’s the problem – Jesus doesn’t want my wheel. He doesn’t want robots, and he doesn’t want to make all my decisions for me. God loves us and desires that we love him in return and for love to be real, there must be choice. So, Jesus tells us how he wants us to live and then he asks that daily, we choose to do so. If I wonder what my life would be like if I only made good, healthy decisions, I’m free to find out any time I want. The only thing stopping me from making completely righteous, pure decisions is me. So, today, and every day, if I want to know what that life is like, then I must point my life at Jesus and choose to follow him. Because he’s never going to force me to do it.