We have very little control of our days. You know that, right? How many times have you planned out your day and think you’re good to go when out of nowhere something beyond your control happens. You may get in your car to run errands and the car won’t start. You’re in the checkout line at the grocery store because you need just a few things when you realize your bank account can’t support those few things. You get a call from the school because your child is unexpectedly running a fever while you’re preparing for the work presentation of a lifetime. Your dog has an unexpected, unexplained health emergency that signals end of life is near. Your spouse calls you in the middle of the day and announces he is no longer employed. And you realize you’ve lost control of what you thought was a normal day. The list could go on and on.
We have less time than we think. Life flies by faster than we can even imagine. I ask myself how I am already at an age where I qualify for Medicare. How am I so close to “celebrating” my 50 year high school reunion? I remember when my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. My mom said that she thought only old people were married for 50 years. Obviously, she didn’t know how they had gotten to that monumental moment in their marriage so quickly. The years fly by, and I bet I’m safe to say that most of us don’t accomplish as much in our lifetime as we thought or hoped we would. Our dreams die pretty soon after they’re hatched. Our relationships fizzle because we don’t give them the time of day. Our faith dries up because we forget to tend and water it. And time goes on.
I was reading an article about friendship this week. One of the statements in the sentence stopped me cold in my tracks. The author was talking about how we can’t just plan our lives and expect everything to fall in line. Life has, as she put it, “unplanned contingencies.” Isn’t that the truth?
I’ve read the Bible verse that truthfully opposes the profound statement I found, but I never flipped the switch to point it at myself. Someone did just that and it’s brilliant. Oh. I’m sure others may have thought of this by now and perhaps I have, as well. Here is the profound statement I read in the friendship article, and I wish I had penned it first.
Be still and know that you are not God.
Sounds simple, huh? The problem is that we all try to play God at some point in our lives. Some realize it’s a moot point and bow to his leading, while others press on determined to take life and make it bow to their every whim. We want to be God of our own lives so we can run the show. It just doesn’t work that way, even though we may put all our effort into it. We can’t take God’s sovereignty from him.
Be still, and know that I am God! Psalms 46:10
We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. Proverbs 16:9
We can find calm in the storms of life, even during the ebb and flow when uncertainty reigns. Because of God’s sovereignty, which means that he is in complete control at all times, we can trust his plan. Oh sure. We can attempt to change it and fall flat on our faces. Other times, it may seem that our way is actually good. But in the end, God reigns supreme and he influences all of life. Regardless of what we believe, God governs all things. And our uncertain times are the moments when we must cling to him as if we’re on a life raft in a swift moving, out-of-control current.
I wonder if God’s enemies sit in terror at the mention of his name. I wonder if they realize that they will be beaten at their own game. Because for one thing. God isn’t playing games. He’s omniscient. He knows everything. And God’s people, those who love and revere him, have nothing to fear. God is on the throne at all times. He has entrusted this earth to mankind, and he sees how we manage it. Or manage it poorly, many would say. He sees the mess we’re in and he’s waiting patiently for more people to turn to him. He sees us in our moments of uncertainty and allows us to live through them. The tests of life are what mold us spiritually, emotionally and mentally. God is completely aware when our lives take an unexpected turn, and he will be our refuge in that time. Life doesn’t have to run smoothly in order for it to be a good life.
I saw a saying on a poster years ago that has stuck with me. There is one God. You are not Him. We just don’t want to admit that we aren’t in control of our lives and that someone bigger and higher and more worthy makes our world turn. God has always existed. There is no beginning or end to him, and there never will be. He is the Master of the universe. We just need to trust him.
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29
He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. 1 Chronicles 29:11-13
Mercy for the Day 