Accepting God’s sovereignty means accepting His authority. When everything seems to be coming apart, it is comforting to know God is in control. He knows what is happening, and He is using the circumstances to work out His purposes. He will somehow bring good out of a situation, no matter how dark it appears. For years, I had reminded myself and those around me to, “Remember Who is in control,” whenever circumstances were other than what we wanted them to be. It was my standard answer to disappointment. Knowing God was in control enabled me to maintain peace in a variety of turbulent situations. I was comfortable with what I thought I knew of His sovereignty.
I don’t think it is ever God’s intention to leave us where we are comfortable. Learning and applying Biblical truth on one level, is a good thing, but there is always more truth to learn. I may have learned to weather some kinds of storms, but new clouds were gathering.
As my family prayed through this new situation, all the Scripture we read seemed to counsel us to stand still, to wait, and watch what God would do. Scripture proclaimed God is our victory; He tramples our enemies. We saw constant reminders that those who dig a pit to trap others would fall into it themselves. We had confidence God would take care of the challenge that had arisen. So we could hardly believe it when what played out was clearly an injustice. I wanted to shout, “Unfair!”
As I continued to pray and read my Bible, the Scriptures that came to my attention then all seemed to talk about unjust suffering. God seemed to be saying, yes, an injustice had occurred. At that point, the issue did not seem to be what God would do about the injustice so much as what my response would be. Jesus suffered unjustly. So did Joseph, the prophets, and all of the disciples. Who was I to think I should avoid it?
Still wanting to shout, “Unfair,” I became concerned about possible damage to my reputation. What if people thought I was somehow responsible for this? As such thoughts were on my mind, my devotional reading one morning talked about Mary’s reputation when she accepted the changes the Lord had in store for her life (Luke 1). We can’t choose our own suffering. We are called to trust God in every situation and not lean only on what we can understand. God was moving me beyond where I was comfortable. He was teaching me to trust Him in this and all situations. In the end I saw He always proves trustworthy. This circumstance was no exception. I had to learn all over again, to accept His sovereign authority. When we trust Him, He gives peace.
But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. Jeremiah 17:7 NIV
Blessings,
Phyllis
I would love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment below.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Copyright 2023 Phyllis L. Farringer