Good Stuff

Dear Friends,

This morning my daily Bible reading took me to Psalm 34:8, which says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh the joys of those who trust in Him!" It's a very familiar verse for most of us who were raised in the church. Today when I read it I was reminded of the fact that God's will for us is good. It may not seem like it at times, but that's usually because He doesn't give us a detailed road map of where we're heading. Instead, God reveals His plans for us in bits and pieces. So while He sees the big picture, we just see little sections at a time - and that can make it challenging to always believe that His will for us is good.

But we're not alone in our struggle to trust God's will - it's something followers of God have had to wrestle with since the beginning of time. If you had been Jacob, Joseph's father, you probably would have prayed for the well-being of your son. So when Joseph disappeared and you were left thinking he was dead, it probably would have caused you to wonder what God was up to. And in the same way, if you had been Moses' mother you would have faced similar concerns when you had to put your baby in a basket and send him down the river.

We might not think of these situations as requiring a big step of faith because we know how the stories end. So it's easy for us to think of these parents trusting God. But when they were going through those situations, they had no idea what God was doing. Joseph's father didn't know his son would end up in a position of power that enabled him to save his family, and an entire nation, from famine. And Moses' mother didn't know that her son would grow up to be the leader who brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt. All they knew for sure was that they served a personal God who cared for them, and who had a plan.

And what was true for them is true for us as well. When we look at the will of God as it's "in progress" in our lives, we might not be able to always make sense of it. And that's when we need to fall back on what we do know. God has a plan for us. It is a plan for good. He will walk with us through any challenges that come our way. And He will finish what He has begun, for His glory and for our good.

So today let's ask God to help us take our eyes off His unfolding plan, and instead, focus on Him and trust the fact that He has a plan for us that is good. And then let's ask Him to use that truth to build joy in our lives.

Amen?

Daniel