"You'd better get out to the parking lot. Your family just left," the store manager told me as I came out of the restroom. My family was running an errand, and nature had called. I had told my parents I was going to use the restroom. As I walked out, I wasn't too concerned by the store manager's words. Surely my parents and siblings had just gone to the car to wait for me.
"Hey, wait!" I shouted in real alarm as I saw our station wagon pull out of its parking space. I ran frantically over to them. Seeing me in the rearview mirror, my dad slammed on the brakes. I climbed in.
"I thought you were in the 'way back,'" My dad said, referring to the furthest back portion of our station wagon. "I had forgotten you went to the bathroom."
"We're so sorry, honey," my mom apologized.
As I fastened my seatbelt, my nine-year-old mind raced to the possibilities of what would have happened if I hadn't run out right when I did. Would they have gotten all the way home before realizing I was missing? Would I have had to walk home (it was several miles)? This was many years before cell phones made instant communication easier. I was just happy I had left the store when I did.
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| My siblings and me, about the time of this story (I'm the oldest). |
I went on with my day, but the reality of what had happened never left my mind. That night, as I was laying in bed, I thought about it. I realized it wasn't just lucky that I walked out when I did. It was God. God worked it out so that I was done in the bathroom and left the store exactly when I did so that I wouldn't get left behind. Looking upward toward the ceiling in the darkness, I whispered a prayer of thanks to God. This was a turning point in my relationship with Him. Though I wouldn't know the terminology just yet, I became acquainted with the idea of Divine Providence.
Realistically, the worst that could have happened was that I would have had to wait at the store until my parents missed me and came back. They surely would have. It wasn't a matter of life and death, but it was somewhat a matter of safety, and definitely a matter of convenience. God had seen to it that everything was all right. Could He have prevented my parents from mistakenly almost leaving without me? Certainly, but He revealed Himself to me through their human error.
Isaiah 55:8-9 are some of my favorite verses about God's sovereignty: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord, For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. These verses have often encouraged me in life. When things don't go the way I expect, I think, "Well, God has another plan. His ways are hither than mine." This is absolutely true, and very encouraging. However, to get the full impact of this truth about God's Divine Providence, let's go back a few verses:
Isaiah 55:6-7 says, Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked abandon his way, and the unrighteous person his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God; For He will abundantly pardon.
Here, we read about a God who longs for the people He created to turn to Him. He wants to show compassion and love. He is ready to forgive! This the the picture God gives us of Himself in this passage. After reading this and focusing on His abundant love, we can go on to read verses, 8-9, telling us how His ways are higher than ours. His plans sometimes don't line up with what we want and hope for. Not only can we comfort ourselves with Him having higher plans in store, but, in light of the earlier verse about His love for us, we can know His plans are the very best. He is always acting in love toward us, even if it doesn't feel like it in the moment.
Another verse I love (actually my life verse) is Romans 8:28, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. We are called to be His. He is working all things for our good. In light of this, we can look at everything that happens to us in light of God's love for us.
A woman I met many years ago once told me, "Sometimes our disappointments are God's appointments." Can you look back on any of your own disappointments in life and see God's hand in it? I don't ask that question to be trite. Sometimes, devastating things happen. Not in any way do I intend to make light of anyone's hurt or disappointment. A verse that was brought up this past week in our Sunday School class was Hebrews 11:13, which says, All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen and welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. It was pointed out that, again, at the end of this chapter, it is reiterated: And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39-40). These verses are about the Old Testament saints. They were trusting in the Lord, as He had revealed Himself to them. We, living after Christ's coming, have much more revelation and knowledge than they did, but, like them, we are called to live by faith, and together with them, we make up the complete story of God's redemptive work through history. We will see some results of our faith in our lifetime, but there is much we won't see of what God was really doing until we are in Heaven. Some things that seem pointless now might be reaping an eternal weight of glory for us. Second Corinthians 4:17 gives this idea when it says, For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. That is something to hang onto during our difficult times.
I have shared some of this before, so I won't go into a lot of detail, but one of the most disappointing seasons in my life occurred when I was a college student. I struggled so much with the way things happened, and I tried to carry on in service in the wake of these disappointments and hurts. My greatest comfort was God's Sovereignty, knowing that, somehow, I was in His divine plan, that it was bigger than when I could see right then. I constantly looked up verses that reminded me of this truth, and listened to Christian songs that reinforced it. Now, all these years later, I look back on that trying time as one of the most fruitful periods of life and ministry. Even though I felt I failed in so many ways at the time, and I barely made it through a day without breaking down, a girl I was mentoring back then came to faith in Christ and is now a fulltime missionary. I'm sure there was even more that God did then that I won't see until I'm with Him. That time of living by faith when it hurt was so precious. Those times really can be.
On the other hand, it doesn't only take hurt and disappointment to reap eternal rewards. God is always at work, and He is always using our lives. As I said above, He can work through these hard times, but He can also reap eternal rewards in our lives through just faithfully going through life each day, whether it's fun, boring, tiring, monotonous. He can use you to impact people you'll never meet. Your life can have so many ripple effects. Last year, I was blessed to meet a young woman who had been discipled by the girl I mentioned above (the one I mentored during that dark time in my life). Laughing, she told me, "You're my spiritual grandma!" What a thought. I had never met this young woman, nor had I personally impacted her life, but God had used my struggling efforts years before to impact someone who, in turn, impacted her. Wow. He is doing that with YOUR efforts too!
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| Ripple effects |
God is in control. He loves you. He will not forsake you. He is working out His purposes, in, though and around you. He has invited You to be part of his redemptive plan for history!
That nine-year-old girl running out of that store in time to catch my parents before they left had no idea all that God was doing, but I now see a little bit more (a very little bit!). One day, our faith will be sight, but for today, rest in His Divine Providence.
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