When you can’t trace his hand, trust his heart

Devotional

As we focus this week on practical ways to begin our year with God, let’s pause today to ask an honest question: Why should we want to trust our year and our lives to him?

My father fought in World War II and experienced such atrocities that he never attended church again. And over many years of my own ministry, I have met many people like my dad. Their questioning is only natural since Christians believe in an all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful God. Because of that, he knows all about our problems, he loves us enough to help us with them, and he is powerful enough to do so.

And yet you and I live in a fallen, broken world.

If you’re like me, God has not answered all your prayers in the way you wanted. Philip Yancey’s book, Disappointment with God, was a bestseller because it spoke of what many of us have felt at times: disappointed.

Where has God disappointed you?

The first audience of today’s Scripture shared our struggle. They were exiles in Babylon, living  as slaves to an enemy that had stolen them from their homes and destroyed their temple.

And yet, in the midst of their suffering, their Lord promised them that he had “plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” He fulfilled those plans when he raised up the Persian Empire to destroy the Babylonian Empire and return his people to their promised land. There they would rebuild their temple and reestablish their nation. Five centuries later, their Messiah would teach in that same temple and lay down his life for their sins and ours.

But how does the Bible connect God’s “plans for welfare” with the evil and suffering we experience? Here are some approaches:

-Many of our problems result from our misused freedom, not God’s intention (Galatians 5:13).

-The Lord uses suffering to grow us spiritually (James 1:2–4).

-We will understand more in the future than we can in the present (1 Corinthians 13:12).

-God walks with us through our hardest days (Isaiah 43:2–3).

Whichever approach is most relevant for you today, here’s the reality: the harder it is to trust God, the more we need to trust him.

On our most painful days, when we are most tempted to turn from him, we most need his help. The sicker the patient, the more urgent the physician.

What are your greatest challenges today? What fears or worries are burdening your heart?

Spend some time naming them, and then trust them to your Lord. Remember that no matter your circumstances and challenges, he wants an “abundant,” joy-filled, transformed life for you.

In his book The Promised Land, nineteenth-century Scottish minister John MacDuff was right: when you can’t trace God’s hand, trust his heart.

today’s devotional is written by Jim Denison