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The steps of a man are established by the Lord …. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand” (Psalm 37:23a-24 NASB).
You may be at what you think is a dead end in your
life. “We’re never going to get out of debt! I’m never going to have a baby.
My dream is never going to come true. How is it ever going to work out?”
Right now it may look dark and you may feel defeated
and it may seem like a mystery to you. But one day you’re going to see in the
light of eternity how it all fits together in God’s plan. Until then, there
are three errors you need to avoid as you seek God’s will that will help you
trust in him, even when you don’t understand.
- Don’t be
fatalistic. The idea of fatalism — that everything that happens is God’s will —
leads to self-pity. It causes us to blame God for everything bad in our
lives rather than accepting responsibility that we caused the problem.
And, fatalism leads to passivity. It makes us think, “I’m waiting on God
to bring me a wife” or “I’m waiting on God to get me a job.” God’s
saying, “I gave you a brain! I gave you two feet! Get out and do
something about it!”
- Don’t be frustrated. If you try to figure out everything in your
life, you’re going to be very frustrated. Sometimes you’re going to do
what you think is God’s will, and it’s going to fail. “I thought God was
leading me to start this business, but it failed.” What do you do when
there are no answers? You keep trusting God, knowing that he’s working
on your character through all of your circumstances and that he has good
plans for you.
- Don’t be fearful. What is behind the fear of God’s will? The root
problem is that you doubt God’s love. The Bible says, “There is no fear in love. But
perfect love casts out fear” (1 John
4:18a NASB). We always get into trouble when we doubt God’s love,
because when we don’t trust him, we don’t obey him.
Psalm 37:23-24 says, “The steps of a man are
established by the Lord …. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.”
God’s will is an expression of his love. When you
don’t understand what God is doing, have patience. God knows what’s best for
you. You can’t see the end result, but he can. God’s path may be a path of
pain, but all those delays and difficulties and problems are building
character in your life.
Talk It Over
- How would
you respond to the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
- What have
you been waiting on God to do in or bring into your life? What do you
think he wants you to
do about it?
- What do
you think this statement means: “God’s will is an expression of his
love”?
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