GOD KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING WITH YOUR LIFE
Does God really know what He’s doing with your life? I’m sure many of you have pondered that very question in your own experience. It’s really only logical that we’d have to confront that question in our faith journey. Things happen in each of our lives and family that are painful, perplexing, and often very confusing, even though we’re genuinely trying to follow Christ and God’s will.
Take a moment, think about this–
Did God know what he was doing sending Joseph off to Egypt in chains as a slave, ending up in prison for many years of his life, falsely accused of a crime?
Did God know what he was doing allowing Jochebed’s baby to be taken from her, and giving little Moses to a pagan princess to raise in the household of the Pharaoh who murdered thousands of Jewish babies?
Did God know what he was doing taking Ezekiel’s wife from him?
Did God know what he was doing allowing Saul to torment David’s life for so many years, before he set him free of that evil, jealous man?
Did God know what he was doing allowing Daniel’s family to be destroyed, having him sent into captivity to live there against his will, enduring such hardship and tribulation?
Did God know what he was doing putting Esther in the house of a pagan king to compete for his attention, enduring almost a year of beauty treatments, to be chosen as Queen, eventually saving her people, the Jews?
Did God know what he was doing having Jonah thrown off a ship in the middle of the sea, swallowed by a fish, living captive inside it for days, then thrown up on the beach of a pagan country?
Did God know what he was doing sending his Son into a world that would hate him, reject him, then nail him to a cross, making him suffer for all of us?
The answer to each of these questions I’m sure, by now, is obvious to you–but think for a moment if you were the person in each of those stories. Would it be obvious to you then, as you were living it, going through it yourself? No, it would not. In fact it would probably be crushing, perplexing, and at times overwhelmingly discouraging. Each of those stories is actually quite shocking, bizarre, illogical, and unjust from our human perspective. But the fact remains—God knew what he was doing and planning with each person’s life.
Let me share an illustration with you. In 1984, a movie came out called the Karate Kid. It is about a young, teenage boy named Daniel, being raised by a single mom in California, who is tormented by other boys who bully him. One day, as they are bullying him and starting to beat him up, an old Japanese man, who is the janitor in Daniel’s building, jumps in between the boys hurting him and begins to defend him in amazing ways. His name is Mr. Miyagi. Daniel’s amazed at what this old man does for him, and his fighting skills. Daniel asks Mr. Miyagi to teach him to fight, and so begins Daniel’s journey. Except, Mr. Miyagi begins to have Daniel do nothing but work. Putting wax on his car, then waxing the car off. Paint the fence, sweep the floors. Daniel is so confused, and after a while gets angry, as he wanted to learn karate and how to fight, and instead he’s just being a work-slave. AHH, but then one day Mr. Miyagi shows Daniel that all the movements he was making him do in each of the work assignments he gave him, were actually preparing him for karate fighting skills, and Daniel’s eyes are suddenly opened to the wisdom and purpose of Mr. Miyagi.
This is precisely, and so much more, what God is doing with you and with me. God has a plan for your life. God created you—God bought you with a price when he saved you, and you are not your own! God is using all that has happened to you, been done to you, and all you are going through to equip you, train you, prepare you, and mold you for His divine purpose. This gives significance and powerful meaning to everything in our lives, even though we may feel crushed, deeply perplexed, or endure much pain, as our faith journey progresses.
I’ve witnessed this time and time again in my own life. Delays, disappointments, setbacks, and yes, even terrible injustices have, over time, played right into God’s plan for my life, and His unfolding purpose. God is not bound by what others do to me. In fact he will use what they do, even though it may be evil, deeply hurtful, and destructive, to bring about his plan and greater purposes for my life. God is my Mr. Miyagi, and man did he ever prepare me for the next thing in my life, that at the time, I did not fully realize what he was doing.
He is doing the very same thing with you. Through all the heartache, loss, pain, frustrations, setbacks, injustices, disappointments—GOD IS WORKING FOR YOUR GOOD. God is bringing about his plan and purpose for you.
Can I explain why so many times it has to be so painful, so confusing, so excruciatingly hard and disappointing? Absolutely not. If I could explain all that I would be God. Can I understand some? Yes! Can I understand and explain everything? No way!
Romans 11:33-34 has been a beacon of light to me in my dark–
Oh what a wonderful God we have! How great are his riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods! For who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who knows enough to be his counselor?
Let me share with you one last, divinely inspired analogy the Lord gave me recently. It relates to my own life, but is applicable to each of us.
My life and family was once a wonderful, beautiful, tall, magnificent tree for all to see. One shocking day, out of the blue, a raging storm came out of the sky, and with a mighty flash a massive lightning bolt suddenly struck my tree with a thunderous roar. The tree split it two and fell to the ground. It was a tree no more. It was devastating. All seemed to be lost. Then someone came with a chainsaw and began to cut up this magnificent, shattered tree. The process of cutting was very, very painful, and seemed like a great loss and a terrible waste. From this tree many boards were fashioned. They were cut, sanded, some varnished, and they were put to use building other useful things. Lo and behold, our gorgeous tree that was no more found new life and purpose from the heartbreaking ruin that occurred from that lightning bolt. I may wish in my mind for the whole tree, as it was, once again. I may reminisce at its former beauty and wholeness, but that is all gone now. It is irretrievable. Something new, fashioned by the Master Carpenter is beginning to emerge and take its place. The tree, you see, was God’s all along and he can do with it whatever he wants, as he created it, he bought it with His blood, and it was his creation and possession.
I hope you find some profound meaning, personal encouragement, and insight from today’s article that will give you fresh new strength and perspective on your own faith journey. We must never forget Isaiah’s truth—God works in strange and mysterious ways!
I did a series years ago that I believe will be a great encouragement to you. It’s entitled–God and Mr. Miyagi. Please take time to hear it. You won’t regret it.
https://strongdisciple.com/
This photo illustrates the point of my last story. This was made for me by a man named Andy Sanchez out of a discarded, broken old tree he found in the desert. Andy is a Christian artisan who gathers these old, useless pieces of wood in the desert and makes pieces of art and furniture from them that sell for tens of thousands of dollars! Who would have imagined something so beautiful from that old broken down tree.
Helping you become a Strong Disciple,
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Mark Darling
