It Just Happens

Do things just happen to us?

Is God just reacting to circumstances....or is He orchestrating everything?

God has this.

God is in control.

I trust God.

My faith is resting in Him.

We say these statements through our life, either to others or to ourselves.  We say them when things are going ok and we really do believe them.  We do have faith.  Our hearts do trust Him.

Then life happens.  I wrote yesterday about how when things go unplanned, we still need to trust God.

It is hard to remember the promise:

We can remember that promise.

We can trust that He is leading.

We can know that we are not utterly cast down.

Yet, sometimes our fickle hearts will doubt.  For me, it is when circumstances seem completely out of our control.

Not only does the car breakdown, but the roof begins to leak.  Then our air conditioning goes out.  Oh, and *surprise* - our property taxes were due yesterday.  All the while, we are waiting and hoping for our baby to come home.

We want to trust God to lead us, but we just wonder sometimes where He is leading.  We trust His ultimate path for our lives, but we question His route.

My son LOVES to make comments in the back seat.  I'll be driving to the bank, like I do every other week on payday.  He will make this statement (from the very back of the car) in his not-so-quiet-voice:

WE ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY!

I look in my review mirror and sigh.  "No, son. This is always the way I drive to the bank."

(Still yelling in case that would help with my sense of direction) NO, MOMMY!  YOU NEED TO TURN AROUND!

I used to laugh at his inability to recognize road signs. Now, I get annoyed.  I know where I'm going.  He does not.  Who is he to tell me which way to turn?  When he insists on my inaccurate direction, I begin to get frustrated.  He doesn't trust me.  Will he just realize that I can see much better from where I am sitting and that I ultimately know exactly where I want to go and how I want to get there.

Our Father in heaven is leading us.  Psalms uses this analogy of God leading us along a path in many of its verses.

Psalm 16:11

Psalm 17:5

Psalm 25:4

Psalm 27:11

Psalm 139:3

Will we trust the One leading?  Do we see those hard times as times to grow and learn?  Do we see God trying to teach us lessons? Or do we question His sense of direction when we encounter hardships.  When circumstances "happen" to us - do we question His leading? God says He will protect us, lead us into a life full of promise.  But why do these hard things happen?

A broken relationship.
A difficult child.
Death.
Sickness.

We want to trust God. We really do.  Yet, when our eyes are focused on our circumstances, we cannot move past the hurt, rejection, and defeat. 

Instead, our hearts should be focused on who God is and what He is doing.

He is in control.  When life throws us "pot-holes" - do we run to the one leading and question His methods?  Do we questions His care?

So many times those thoughts have entered my heart.  Bad/Hard/Difficult trials don't just happen to us, God leads them right to us. What do we know about God?

We know He loves.

We know He cares.

We know He is changing us to be more like Him.

For some people, a simple broken air conditioning can teach a valuable lesson. For others, maybe God will use a car accident.   Although we cannot know the mind of God, we can rest in the fact that He knows where we are going - life doesn't just happen.  God is still on His throne.  As a song writer recently sung, Love will have the final words:

Song by Jason Gray

Listen here to that reminder.

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