Even when you can't see...

I have one sentence playing on loop in my head. “He’ll make everything alright.” I’m not sure why but I can testify that it’s the truth. God can turn your mourning into dancing and your sadness into joy. He can make what looked to be disaster turn into one of your greatest victories. He can take your little and create much. He is a limitless and all powerful God. He is quite simply and yet complexly everything. And maybe that’s at the root of what I’m supposed to tell you today. Your life may be a complete jumble of circumstances and situations that you haven’t quite figured out how to navigate through but God is the answer and the key. He is, in the words of Christ Himself, “the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Rev. 22:13) I say all of that to say, trust Him.

I’m not sure why but God brings me back to the idea of trusting Him every few weeks or so. Maybe it’s just me, but I need reminders. Sometimes I will get so caught up in what I see that I forget that God is in control of it all. I forget that as Colossians 1:16 says, “He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see.” I take that back, I don’t forget, but rather I allow what I see to get in the forefront. Have you ever been there? You know when the stress says give up and the frustration says quit? Yep…that’s why He has to remind me to trust Him. That’s why He has to tell me that He can make everything alright and to share it with you! He knows His people! He knows that you are a control freak that wants everything to line up perfectly. He knows that you are a worrier that replays everything a million times before moving forward. He knows that you can’t let go of that anger because you’ve had it so long that you can’t separate it from your real personality. He knows you and so He says “Trust Me!” He says trust him in your vulnerable place. Trust Him in your weary place. Trust Him in your sad place. Trust Him!

Friends, this life is always going to have challenges. There will always be things that attempt to distract you from the path that God has laid for you. But can I just remind you that God is the Master planner and everything starts and stops with Him? There is no battle that He can’t win because He is Jehovah Nissi, the God who waves the victory banner! There is no sickness that He can’t heal because He is Jehovah Raphe, the God who heals you! There is no storm that can overtake you because He is Jehovah Machseh, Our Fortress and Refuge! The problem is that we tend to put conditions on those titles. If He doesn’t use the battle plan that you would have chosen, you aren’t satisfied. If the way that He chooses to heal is through death, you are mad. If the shelter is not in the place that you like, you sulk. Tough, huh? I know! I’ve had these thoughts. I’ve had these struggles and conversations with God about why He took me down a particular path or didn’t answer the way I wanted Him to and He always replies the same way. TRUST ME!  

And so I say to you, trust Him. Please don’t let what you see mess up where you’re going. Please don’t give the enemy room to slow down your process. You see, God has such an amazing and well thought out plan for your life. He has divine connections and opportunities down the path that looks awkward and uncomfortable. He has revelation and wisdom stationed in places that are outside of your tradition. He even has provision stored up in dry places. So when He sends you…Go! When He calls you…Answer! And when He speaks…Listen! “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”(Rom. 15:13 NLT)

Amen