ODJ: providence
January 17, 2012
They all depend on You to give them food as they need it. When You supply it, they gather it. You open Your hand to feed them, and they are richly satisfied (vv.27-28).
READ: Psalm 104
My family spent the past week nervously watching the progress of a storm that was predicted to hit our area about the time we planned to leave on holiday. The storm arrived 2 days before we were scheduled to leave, grounding flights and pushing travellers onto already overbooked planes on future days. On the morning of our scheduled departure, the airline called and offered us five return tickets to anywhere if we would allow them to bump us to the next day. We quickly took them up on their offer, consoling our disappointed children with the promise, “Now we can fly to the Bahamas next year!”
As I reflected on our good fortune, it struck me that the very storm we feared had turned out to be God’s blessing in our lives. Some might chalk up our ‘jackpot’ to fate (as even Solomon observed in his sceptical mood)—that life “is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). I understand that it’s easier for me to write this than if our family had waited out the storm on the tarmac, with nothing to show for our delay. The same storm that blessed my life was bad news for others.
True enough. Yet no matter what, we are the recipients of God’s gracious care. Paul declared that “everything comes from Him” who “makes everything work out according to His plan” (Romans 11:36; Ephesians 1:11). We may never know why this or that misfortune happened to us, but we can trust that whatever comes our way passes first through the hands of our loving Father. He never stops providing for His children, and He uses even the storms of life for our good.
Whether your experiences today are good or bad, you can rest in the God who planned your life “before a single day had passed” (Psalm 139:16). —Mike Wittmer
Are you troubled or comforted by the sovereignty of God? Why might it be important to remember that God is in control when events are not going your way?
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Personally, it is easier to apply the soveregnity of God to someone else and it is hard to take when my going gets tough. A quick explanation to those who are going through down and challenging time but never easy when we come face to come with our own difficulties. Nevertheless, this reminded me that I have God to trust regardless of the outcome simply He can be trusted even all things seem to fail or falling apart. He who saves me will remain faithful to His promises till eternity; even apparently I don’t understand why I need to go through the suffering or appreciate the setbacks no matter how temporal they might be.
Dear Lord Jesus, please grant me the wisdom and insights needed when I face trials of any kind. Especially, give me the strength that I needed to battle it through knowing you are ever with me and I take comfort in this promise that you will never leave me or forsake me. Please help me to do likewise. Amen.