I think there may be times in all of our lives when we think we’ve got it figured out. There are times in our lives when it all seems to be easier than at other times. (However, for me those times are far more scarce the older I get.) We may even come to the place of saying, “I’ve got this.” Then we get snapped back to reality, realizing that this “life” thing can really be hard and confusing. It can then be so easy to give place to a disquieted spirit, to listen to all the voices. They seem to be coming from every direction.
I’ve had moments playing golf where I would happen onto a stretch of two or three holes where everything was as it should be. Fairway, green and one or two putt. I’ve got this. Then I would step to the next tee and snap hook one into the water hazard. Snapped back to reality. Life is much that way. It’s full of hooks and slices, water hazards and sand traps, trees and a myriad other hazards. Sometimes you dread looking at the score card.
We go through our lives, settle into a routine, almost as if we’re on cruise control. I’ve got this. Then something unexpected happens, and throws everything out of place. It’s at that moment that we realize that we are not in control. We fight so hard to be in control, only to realize that we were NEVER in control. At that point we must come face to face with what we really believe about the true source of our strength. Is God really there, or not. Is He really in control, or not. Does He really care about my situation, or not. Our faith and trust in Him answer these questions rather quickly. At this point in my life I believe I trust Him more than ever before. Faith in our God should never be something that we click on and off as our situation changes. He is always the same and always deserves our trust and praise.
Job, after facing one life transforming event after another, boldly made the profession, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,”
Job 19:25-26
Job was no more of a saint than you or me. He had just come to grips with what he believed about his God. That God was faithful no matter what was happening in his life. That God was bigger than anything going on in his life. Can we be anything less than that?
What a profession of faith. Everything we give over to God, He will hold until the completion of our time.
Dreama’s death was a totally unexpected thing. Even after the diagnosis with cancer, we believed God for a miracle. To the very end, we believed for a miracle. Obviously, it never came in the manner that we wanted. Humanly speaking her death was way too early. She still had so much life to be lived. But with all this my faith and trust has not wavered.
I for sure don’t have life figured out. I don’t even have all of God’s ways of working figured out. But this I know, God is my strength and refuge, and I will always trust Him.