God Knows What He's Doing

I listened to a sermon today that was supposed to be about prayer but was really about the sovereignty of God.  (It happens.  Sometimes something morphs as you're making it.  I guess sermons are no different.  And I know that prayer and sovereignty are linked.)  It occurred to me that although we know God is sovereign, we 1) aren't really sure what that means sometimes and 2) tend to act like He isn't.

Sovereignty means that God knows what He's doing.  In other words, the God Who made you knows what's best for you.

This is difficult to apply.  Part of our sin nature is that we are all sure, deep down where our thoughts don't bear much examination, that we know what's best for us.  Sometimes, perhaps, we do--but I suspect that most of the time we really don't.  Given that I'm not God, the rational part of me knows that I'd be really bad at doing His job.  The prideful part that likes to whisper at the back of my mind isn't entirely convinced.

That's one reason that the Bible talks a lot about submission and surrender and not so much about following your heart and going with your gut.  It says something not entirely flattering about us that we are so fond of stories where people follow their intuition (against advice or morality) and then turn out to be right; we almost never see a story where someone follows their intuition and is wildly wrong.  (Well, except on those talk shows about people who get into romantic relationships with people they met on Myspace.)

You can all be praying for the Husband and I if you would, as we are needing to make some rather complex decisions in the next few weeks.  We are having to rely on the sovereignty of God.  It's good practice, and it also reminds us to be thankful for His other attributes.  He's a good Sovereign; He loves us, and doesn't move us around like chess pieces just for fun.  Whatever He does fufills His perfectly loving purpose, and whatever He asks us to do is likewise important.  Tuck this into the back of your mind: when you say "no" to God, you are being not only sinful but stupid.  (Yes, I said that.)  Of course it's stupid.  God knows everything--it's silly to argue that you know more than Him, given that you are not even sure where you left your green socks.

All of which is, as usual, easy to say and hard to do.  Stuck in a fleshly body, with the inability to see even a speck of the future, the only thing you can do is to stick hard to the things you know are true; God loves you, and He knows what He's doing.  Your job is simple: just say "yes".

Cheers,

Breanna