Thursday, February 15, 2024

I’m re-reading The Sovereignty of God by A. Pink. *Sigh, I really ought to read it at the beginning of every new year to see God afresh.

Today I read how everything is governed by God, the weather, our health, our vacations, you can name your own thing. He says when we complain about the weather, or anything else, we are complaining against God. Whoa, that is so not good! I thought of Proverbs 16:9 where it says “man makes his plans but God directs his steps”, so when the weather, our health, etc., stops us from going where/doing what we planned to do, that is God directing our steps for that day.

If the car breaks down, that is God directing our steps. If, which has happened to me many times, I made plans, even just going to work, God interrupted with a car accident redirecting my steps or stopping them altogether. I confess, I didn’t understand, thus I got angry and complained.

But in Romans 8:28 it says that “God causes ALL things to work together for good to them who love Him and are called according to His will.” To say we wish it were not so is to say, in essence, we wish He would not cause this to work for our good. It’s to say we know better. It is our pride and selfishness that says we want our own way. We are not humbly giving “thanks in all things”, 1 Thess. 5: 16-18, humbly acknowledging that God knows better than we do and has a plan for us, we are complaining against Him, our Sovereign God for thwarting our plans. We are not humbling ourselves, instead we are pridefully pitting ourselves against God. Not that it does any good!

I think it is especially grievous that we as Christians too often find ourselves angry, frustrated or ticked off when we don’t get our own way, not seeing it as the hand of God and thanking Him for interrupting our man-made plans. I think it takes great maturity in Christ and an enduring trust in the goodness of God, to get to the point where no matter what happens, we do not grumble and complain, but humbly give thanks for ‘it’ because our trust is in the God who will cause this thing to work together for our good.

Today everyone is focussed on creating an attitude of gratefulness. Let’s just try one day at a time, today, to be thankful in all things that happen, knowing God’s got this.

Journey Girl, taking one day, one step at a time.