Thursday, September 14, 2023
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16 NASB
Trusting in a Sovereign God
We make plans for our lives, but most of us know that what we plan and what really happens are sometimes two very different things. As Christians we know that we are not in control, but we live our lives as we are. We have to plan and prepare for our lives, but first we should pray about His will and then we can commit those plans to the Lord and follow His lead. But what do you do when life throws a curve ball, and it can throw us some big ones. What happens when things do not turn out as you expected?
We can have many different reactions to what happens in life depending on the nature of the unexpected circumstances. It could be the loss of a loved one, the loss of a marriage, a pandemic, the loss of a job, financial problems, or major illness. It could be many things and we react differently to all of them.
One reaction we could have is to turn away from God and become bitter. When tragedy or unexpected major events disrupt our lives, we don’t understand how God could let it happen, or why He doesn’t seem to be listening to our prayers. It can even feel personal - that God must think we somehow deserve this circumstance. When our expectations are overturned by these events, we may feel that God’s promises are not true, that He is not faithful, or that He has walked away and left us. We can find our faith at an all time low. But God is faithful and His promised are true - for all His children. When life overwhelms us, and we don’t feel it, we have to tell ourselves the truth that we know deep down inside.
Some of us may jump into work mode when times get hard. We feel we have to “do” something, even though all our “somethings” we are “doing” will not change our circumstances. We just need to feel like we are doing what we can to change things. In reality, we are just distracting ourselves. It is God’s job to “do” the things and He is sovereign overall our circumstances.
When we just want to ignore or numb ourselves to what is happening, we don’t want to face reality and deal with the truth. This does not make the truth go away or change. It only prolongs our agony. Before we can take any steps to overcome or heal from what happens to us in life, we must first face the reality of the truth of what is happening in our lives. As painful as it is, we need sit with our feelings and work through them, because if we don't, they will come out in one way or another. We have to keep going, so we tend to shove the pain aside and not deal with it as long as we can get away with it.
God is in control. We say it to others, and we believe it until something happens. When we feel that God is not in control, it scares us. When things start happening that we never thought could happen, we become fearful. When we think God doesn’t love us or has left us, we lose confidence in His promises and our identity as His child. We freeze and nothing productive happens.
In the face of unexpected or unforeseen events in life, the only thing we can do is to keep our eyes on Him and repeat the truth, we know deep down inside, over and over to ourselves. He will be with us in the storms, and He will walk with us and lead us through. His promises are true, and they never fail.
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6
