Blindsided Series - Post Four
Brenda Harris
“This is my doing…”
A situation developed in my life and nothing about it appeared good to me. As I began my quiet time on July 24, 2020, a section of text from The One Year Bible jumped off the page and straight into my heart. It was from 2 Chronicles 11:4.
“This is what the Lords says,
‘Do not go up and fight against your fellow Israelites,
go home, every one of you, for this is My doing.’”
I reread the text again and with great bewilderment asked the Lord, “Are you serious? How can this [the not so good-looking situation in my life] be Your doing?”
And yet, it was very clear to me in that moment, He was asking me to trust Him with what I didn’t understand and what doesn’t look like Him. I paused, underlined the verse in my Bible, jotted a few notes in the margin and for the next year, continued to pray God would change the situation. Then in May 2021, I was blindsided by what He had told me was “His doing.”
To say I was confused remains an understatement. How can something so unlike God, be God at work? When something doesn’t look good to me, I have a hard time believing it could possibly be good or from God.
But what if it was quite good and quite God? What if we could fast forward months, years or decades and see into the future to get a glimpse of the very thing we believed to be “bad” play out in a way that was undeniably “good?” Would we be able to trust God with what we don’t understand today? When we doubt our all-powerful, sufficient, omniscient, loving God and we turn Him into a small, weak, angry, powerless god.
Consider this, what if the thing that blindsided us was allowed by God for a very important reason and may become the turning point for change? Would it alter how we viewed the situation today? How would it change the way we wait for God to reveal His plans? Would trusting Him allow our joy to return, our hope to be rekindled and our mind to become peaceful?
I recently read a quote which, although very simple, has become a daily reminder for me as I pass through this confusing season.
“God is good.
God is good to me.
God is good at being God.”
-Lysa TerKeurst
The word of God confirms these three simple lines as truth.
God is good. Nahum 1:7
“The Lord is good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble;
And He knows those who trust in Him.”
God is good to me. Psalm 145:9
“The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.”
God is good at being God. Romans 11:33
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”
We may have been blindsided, but God was not. He knows all, sees all and controls all and therefore we can choose to allow that knowledge to reign over our situation instead of fear, doubt, confusion and anxiety. Perhaps you also stand on a road that looks very crooked and are wondering how “this could be His doing…” but let’s choose to take God’s words to heart and patiently wait on the only One who does all things well.