Proverbs 16:9 The mind of a man plans his way: but the LORD directs his steps.
As believers, we hold to the promise, “all things work together for good to them that are the called according to His purpose.” During these times, while the world seems to be unraveling … this is when we cling to the promises of God! This reminded me of a story that took place nearly ten years ago.
As I’ve been following the news about much of the United States being under a winter storm watch, with snow falling in unexpected places like Galveston, Texas, and Florida, it brought back memories of a story from over ten years ago.
It was January of 2011 when we arrived at the airport late Thursday night with our bags and our kiddos, only to find out that our flight was canceled because of a freak accident — a tractor ran into the plane, of all things! So we repacked our ourselves tightly into a small rental car to make the two-hour drive to get back home to Arad in the middle of the night. Our flight was postponed until Sunday.
Sunday came, and we got on the plane. We flew into Atlanta only to find that not only was our connecting flight canceled, but the airport was entirely shut down due to a severe ice storm. There was not one flight out, and all the hotels in the area were booked solid.
We had to arrive in Baltimore in time for some scheduled speaking engagements, so we decided to rent a car, despite everyone’s wide-eyed stares. Now, normally this is only about a 12-hour drive — however, because we were driving at a speed between 10 and 20 miles an hour for half of the way, it took us a whopping 22 hours!
Fortunately, the ice was so bad that every half an hour, I would have to pull over and break an inch or two of ice off the windshield wipers — so the freezing weather kept me nice and alert! But we got here safe and all in one piece, thank God.
As I drove, I thought about the fact that we are very quick to blame the devil for these kinds of circumstances. But the Bible says that ALL things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes, and in retrospect — our delay was instrumental in helping a dear friend to be able to make an emergency visit to her daughter, bless two lovely troubled teens and enabled us to share with and bless people we might have never met between Atlanta and Baltimore!
As believers, we hold steadfast to the promise that “all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” In times when the world seems to be falling apart, it is precisely then that we must cling to His promises even more. Life may be getting “more interesting,” but every strange circumstance, every change in plans, is a chance to trust God more deeply and share His love and the gifts He has entrusted to us. Looking back, it’s clear that perhaps God has been orchestrating it all along. Let every moment be an opportunity to trust Him and spread His love.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]In Biblical Hebrew, the verb tenses are not like our “past”, “present”, and “future” – there are only two: “perfect” and “imperfect”. The “imperfect” tense is that which is not yet, not done, or not completed. The “perfect” is that which is done, complete and finished.
The burglar froze in place, allowing the woman to call the police and report the burglary calmly. When the police arrived and detained the man, the officer curiously asked him, “Why did you stop when she cited scripture?” The burglar, still shaken, replied, “Scripture? I thought she said she had an ax and two .38s!”
We’ve been serving in full-time ministry for over 25 years now, and throughout that journey, we’ve certainly experienced our share of trials and tribulations. Sometimes in life, we ask, “Lord, will this ever end?” And if you haven’t noticed, the challenges often don’t stop. But here’s the encouraging part: with every faith-testing moment, our spiritual endurance grows, our character is refined, and our trust in God deepens.
Epraphras is not a name you hear much of. He was a member of the church in Colosse, and obviously a dear saint in the Lord. We know that he suffered imprisonment with Paul at one time. But the thing that really impresses me about this saint is what Paul wrote about him– he always wrestled in prayer!
We often develop strategies, game-plans, life-plans – and then, at some obstacle or critical point, we say – “Just stick to the plan!” It’s usually good advice.
Life is always sending unexpected surprises, but praise God, nothing takes Him by surprise. He’s the master planner. Our family might turn against us, our friends let us down, illness, afflictions, problems and “situations” on every side…God still has a plan, for you, and for me.
The legendary preacher, Charles Spurgeon once said, “Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.”
Every day roughly 150,000 around the world die. Death has a way of raising our spiritual temperature and quickening us to re-evaluate life…especially to ask, “Am I doing all that I can do?”