God Knows What’s Best For You

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?   And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

~Matthew 6:25-34 (biblegateway.com)

Have you ever asked God why?

Why you had to get the flu?

Why you have to move so often?

Why there is no adventure in your life?

Why you have to keep struggling with pride?

Why God made you short or tall?

We complain.  We cry.  We want to know why God gives us such unwanted circumstances.
Whatever it is, we have all questioned God’s plan at one time or another.  Though we may not say it aloud, it shows that we don’t entirely trust God or His plan. It shows we don’t believe God’s plan is better than ours.  

My youth group leader once told us to walk towards the wall until our noses almost touched it.  Our vision was extremely limited.  Our teacher then explained the analogy.  He said that our view of the wall was like our knowledge of our lives.  Then he had us step back.  We could see entire wall, and the art on it was complete.  This, he said, was like God’s view of our lives.  He sees the big picture.  He knows how it will work out in the end, and He has a plan.  A perfect plan. The best plan.

A Trust Issue

God has shown to us in His Word how He perfectly works all things out for good.  He has protected us, loved us, and saved us.  He can be trusted to save us from our sin, and He can be trusted with our lives on earth too.  Once we learn to “cast our cares upon the Lord” and get to know and trust Him more, we will have no need to worry.  Even if we don’t know why God gave us certain circumstances, we can trust that His plan is better than anything we could imagine: that His plan is best.

Once we learn that God’s plan is best, we have to be content with His plan too.  This doesn’t mean we will love everything about our lives, but it does mean that we should be thanking God for both the easy and difficult things in life and being content with His will and goodness no matter what our circumstances are.  Trusting God means believing what He says and following Him wholeheartedly, even if we don’t know everything.  Even if we don’t know why.

God knows EXACTLY what you need to know, experience, struggle with, and love.  He created you, and He knows EXACTLY what YOU need.  Don’t be afraid, and don’t worry about your life. God has you in His arms and will do what brings Him glory and what is best for you.
God has cared for us so far.  He sanctifies, He teaches, and He loves His children.  As Christians, how can we not trust Him?  He directs our paths no matter what, but we will find true peace only when we learn to trust His plan.

Friends, life is hard and confusing.  Take comfort in the fact that God plans it all, is with you through it all, and that He knows what is best for YOU.  

Dear readers…

Hi, friends. This article has been on my mind for a while now, but I have been surprised at God’s good timing. Now that I’m finally publishing it, I can see that Christians are currently being faced with a decision that directly relates to this article: we can either worry with everyone else or we can trust God. As the Coronavirus is spreading, the world is becoming increasingly worried, disturbed, and confused. The world has no hope and no one to trust, so their reaction is understandable. Christians, however, have their hope in Christ. We can trust that God watches over us, and that nothing can happen to us outside His will. We know that God is in control, and that God knows what is best for every single one of us. Prepare and be wise, but don’t waste energy worrying. When the anxiety just won’t go, I found that praising God and putting the focus back on Him fights the exhausting (and unproductive) fear like nothing else. I’ll put some of my favorite praise songs below.

Trust God. Pray hard. Serve others.

Stay healthy, friends!

Love,

Rachel

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You Can Trust God to Write Your Story (Book Review)