Trusting God’s Unseen Hand
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand? Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.”
Job 13:13–16
In the depths of his suffering and despair, when he had lost his possessions and his health, when he had been falsely accused by friends who should have comforted him, and when God was silent, Job maintained his faith. Though he did not have the Bible as we do as a source of instruction and encouragement, Job’s relationship with God was strong enough to withstand the most severe trial of his life when he had to stand alone.
In November of 2017, twenty-six people were murdered during the worship service at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The pastor, Frank Pomeroy, was out of town that Sunday, and he returned home to conduct funerals for nearly half of his congregation. One of the victims was his fourteen-year-old daughter. Asked how he could explain this tragedy, Pomeroy replied, “I don’t understand, but I know my God does.”
God does not owe us an explanation of what He is doing in our lives, or a justification for the methods He chooses to bring about His will. He is God and we are not. It is our responsibility to trust Him whether we can see His plan or not. God does not stop working just because we cannot see what He is doing. He is still there, lovingly working through the circumstances of our lives to conform us to become more like Jesus. Often it is the things that are most painful in the moment that produce the greatest harvest of God’s work in our lives.
Job 13:13–16
In the depths of his suffering and despair, when he had lost his possessions and his health, when he had been falsely accused by friends who should have comforted him, and when God was silent, Job maintained his faith. Though he did not have the Bible as we do as a source of instruction and encouragement, Job’s relationship with God was strong enough to withstand the most severe trial of his life when he had to stand alone.
In November of 2017, twenty-six people were murdered during the worship service at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The pastor, Frank Pomeroy, was out of town that Sunday, and he returned home to conduct funerals for nearly half of his congregation. One of the victims was his fourteen-year-old daughter. Asked how he could explain this tragedy, Pomeroy replied, “I don’t understand, but I know my God does.”
God does not owe us an explanation of what He is doing in our lives, or a justification for the methods He chooses to bring about His will. He is God and we are not. It is our responsibility to trust Him whether we can see His plan or not. God does not stop working just because we cannot see what He is doing. He is still there, lovingly working through the circumstances of our lives to conform us to become more like Jesus. Often it is the things that are most painful in the moment that produce the greatest harvest of God’s work in our lives.
Today’s Growth Principle:
Faith is not created in hard times, but it is revealed when it is put to the test.
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