Thursday, November 19, 2009

God's Sovereignty

Today I’m thinking about God’s sovereignty. Days when bad news hits or the reality of life just seems a bit hard to take, it’s comforting for me to realize that God knows all, and his knowledge transcends time and circumstance. My dearest friend is separated from her husband right now, and she’s hurting. Because I’ve experienced that same hurt not so long ago myself, I feel like I’m reliving some of the pain with her up close and personal. I got a call today that one of my old friends has been diagnosed with Leukemia. She’s going to spend the next six weeks in the hospital fighting for her life. This is one of those days when I feel the darkness. There is a lot of sadness and hurt all around us and unfortunately that is just the reality of life in this fallen world.

“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. “ Prov 3:5

I sit here feeling this heaviness, yet knowing that I do not see and understand all that God does. My understanding and view is limited by time, emotion and sin. Even when I’m feeling close to God and am “tuned in” spiritually, my thinking is still from a worldly perspective. I could be angry, but I have no idea how God can and could be using these very difficult circumstances to bring himself glory or to prosper me in some way. Only God can see without time and situation and sin affecting his plans. Listen to how God answers Job and his friends when they do not trust his motives or the circumstances that God allows to enter Job’s life in Job 38:1-7.

Job 38
The LORD Speaks
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:
2 "Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?

There are three chapters at the end of the book of Job where God lists reasons why he is sovereign and we are not. It is humbling and sobering to read. I need to trust in God’s understanding and not my own. Life in this fallen world is difficult and full of painful situations and things I don’t understand – period. I guess I don’t really have to understand I have to learn to trust with childlike faith. I realize that if I truly believe God and his promises, then I know that even in the midst of tragedy and pain, he has already made plans for me and those I love to prosper both here during this life and in the life to come - more than I can even imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

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