Do you ever have one of those days where you get sideswiped? Something comes along that you just weren’t expecting–usually on top of some other things, like migraines or financial stress or some other issue. Ironically enough, I am finishing the last half of this post on my phone because our computer died last night (hence the late posting). Please pray that we get it fixed/recovered soon!
This week I’ve been thinking about how awesome it is that God is sovereign–I finished Beth Moore’s study on Esther, which ended with providence, and started Jennifer Kennedy Dean’s study on prayer Living a Praying Life, which began with sovereignty. They dovetailed nicely 🙂 I love that nothing ever takes God by surprise. He knows every step we’ll ever take, even the ones we weren’t planning on.
He also cares. It would be one thing to have a God who knew everything and who could affect the course of reality but didn’t care and didn’t intervene. Pretty brutal! But that’s not our God–He promises that He’s working everything out for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28). He infuses His redemption into every event that comes into His children’s lives.
That bears repeating: He infuses His redemption into every event that comes into His children’s lives.
I can’t tell you what a comfort that is to me! Sometimes the path is winding and we don’t see where it’s going or even how we’re going to get anywhere but that’s just from our perspective. From God’s perspective, He’s holding our hands, leading us step by step by step, through and around every obstacle (Isaiah 43:2-4). Even when things happen that we didn’t plan for, God planned for them.
I’m also amazed by how personal His providence is. I mean, it’s one thing for God to intervene on global and national levels–for example, Ephesians 1:11; 1 Chronicles 29:11-12; Daniel 4:35; Daniel 5:21; Psalm 115:3; Proverbs 16:4; Romans 9:17. It’s something entirely different for Him to intervene in one person’s life–someone who doesn’t have all that many people in my circle of influence.
That’s the kind of God we have. One who is involved in every moment of His children’s lives. There are several verses that I run to when I can’t remember that fact, but I particularly love Psalm 18. Verse 19 says that He rescued me because He delighted in me. If we look back over our lives, we’ve all been rescued from something at some point. That rescue is confirmation that God delights in us.
I delight in my children. My husband and I tell each other the silly, amazing things they do all the time. It’s just a part of our day to talk about our kids and how awesome they are. We talk about what we’ve seen them learn, how proud we are of them, how amazing they are. Like other doting parents, we probably tell far too many anecdotes to people who are less than interested. We don’t just tolerate our kids; we delight in them. There’s a work of difference between those two things!
God delights in us.
And that’s why we don’t have to freak out over the unexpected. He wants to rescue us from every little bump in the road–just like I want to rescue my kids. But I know they would be fragile, bratty kids who couldn’t survive in the real world if I did that. On the other hand, I don’t let them run wild. I teach them to look both ways when they cross the street. I let some consequences take their course so my kids feel the weight of their decisions.
Similarly, my niece is just starting to walk and it’s always fun seeing her family balance giving her freedom to learn and walking right beside her to make sure she doesn’t get hurt in the practice.
That’s our God: no matter what you’re going through, He’s right beside you, ready to rescue because you are His delight.
