Trusting that God Is in Control

Anyone who knows me associates me with one or more of three things: stamping and handmade cards, varieties of loose black tea, and reading. I read at least one book almost every week.

As an avid reader, especially of fiction, I'm discovering parallels in the author's creativity and God's sovereignty. I don't always understand what the author has in mind as she writes her novel, but that doesn't mean she has made a mistake. The same thing is true of God:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,"

declares the Lord.

As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8, 9 (NIV)

But I understand that the author has a plan as she begins writing, a plan that sometimes varies as she creates her characters. She knows how each person in her book thinks and acts and responds. But she also makes sure that somehow the ending is in line with her plan.

I see the same thing in God. He has plans for me; He has plans for you.

"For I know the plans I have for you,"

declares the Lord,

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you a hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Being who I am, I will stumble and fall, I will make poor choices, but somehow God will work through me and in me to accomplish His ways. 

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, 

and do not return to it without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

Isaiah 55:10, 11 (NIV)

So the question is not, "What is God doing?" or even "Why?" Instead, the question is, "Will I trust God to accomplish good and not evil in my life? Will I trust Him to accomplish what He desires?"

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5, 6 (NIV)

I'll be the first to admit that I often wish I could look into the future to see how things will work out, that I have difficulty trusting Him implicitly. But as I reveal how God has carried me through so many things in my life, I am encouraged to let go of my fears and choose to trust Him. I'd like to share the chorus of a song by John W. Peterson that expresses my thoughts so perfectly:

I will trust when I cannot see,

When I'm faced with adversity,

And believe Your will is always best for me—

I will trust when I cannot see.

©1970 by Singspiration, Inc.