Here's the thing about predicability. It's not predictable. You can never really predict when something is going to happen. You can't predict how someone is going to handle a situation, when the next deal is going to drop, what the doctor's report will be, when the company is being sold or how long a loved one will survive. We just don't know. I think at a logical level we have embraced this fact but we often fail to live this truth out in our every day lives. We walk around stressed. We fret over the outcome of a conversation, we worry that our jobs are in jeapordy, we lose sleep over our next doctor's appointment, we spend our days in panic mode trying to pinpoint what's "unpinpointable" (I'm pretty sure I just made that word up).
Here's the good news. If I just described you, you're not alone. I certainly just described myself from time to time and likely just described many others who are reading this. While there are so many things that are "unpinpointable" there are some truths about life and God that are very "pinpointable", things that are very predictable. 1. God's faithfulness isn't based on our faithfulness. That is really good news! Romans 3:3 says, "What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?" God's predictablity isn't based on our predictablity. Even when we are all over the map, up one minute and down the next, God stays true. I relate it to the wild journey of raising teenagers. The most effective parenting is done when parents don't respond to the highs and lows of their teenagers. When you realize that teenagers can sometimes be up and then down in a matter of minutes for no apparent reason you begin to see the value of staying true. That's God in our lives. He stays true regardless of our behavior. He steady when we're waivering. 2. God is on-time. Isaiah 40:31 says, "But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." Following Jesus isn't about things happening on our timeline. Too often we unfairly match our faithfulness with God's timing. We assume that there is a direct coorleation between our faithfulness and God's timing. We buy into the thought that when we do what God wants, He'll do what we want. While God does desire to bless us, His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts, His timing isn't always our timing. What Isaiah assures us of isn't our perfect timing but rather God's perfect timing and His ability to sustain us until His timing comes through. 3. God is in control. Daniel 2:21 says, "He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning." Sometimes we easily forget that the God who breathed life into your lungs and spins the world in orbit is the same God that desires to be in control of our everyday lives. Why would we not yield full control to this type of power? Pause for a moment and really consider your qualifications against God's. Consider God's Words to Job in Job 38:4-11, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?" 4. God is moving. Never forget that God is on the move. He is moving in your life in ways that you may never percieve. He is moving in those situations that you feel have stalled. He is moving behind the scenes, where the darkness appears to have taken over. I love the passage in Genesis that speaks of this idea. Genesis 1:2 says, "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Think for a moment about those, "formless and empty" parts of your life and remember that God is moving. There are countless areas of life that are unpredicatble and "unpinpointable" but God is not one of them. He is here. He is solid. He is steady. He is predictable. Comments are closed.
|
Archives
April 2022
|