The following is taken from one of my journal entries. I wrote it during a key moment in my life in which I clearly saw God’s hand of providence. It seemed like God was about to give me the desire of my heart but suddenly instead of doing that He took what I wanted away!
There were a million questions in my mind that I wanted to ask God concerning my situation, but the lesson that He taught me was that what He wanted from me was obedience. He wasn’t asking me to figure out providence, He was simply telling me to obey.
I’ve removed the personal details and left the overall substance of what God taught me during that time with the hope that there might be something here that may be helpful to you.
Here’s my journal entry along with some additional thoughts that I’ve learned along the way…
I have so many questions about the Providence of God! There are so many things that have happened which are unlikely to be coincidental. Nevertheless, God has not been filling me in on what these signs of His providence mean. The only thing He keeps telling me is that I should obey Him no matter what.
Maybe instead of asking about providence I should be concerning myself more with the consequences of disobedience.
What are the consequences of disobeying God???
That’s the question that really matters at this point! I think it’s the starting place and it’s not to be taken lightly.
Where do I end up if by disobeying God I make the wrong choices? There are some choices that can alter the rest of my life! I think this is why the Bible talks about being sober-minded. Flippantly rushing into something does not usually have good results!
God told me exactly what He wants me to do, and I simply need to do it.
He told me to wait upon Him. He said if I did that He would act on my behalf. So that’s what I’ve been trying to do, but it hasn’t been easy.
When the enemy came and attacked me the other day it was to weaken my resolve to remain standing in obedience.
Having done all… STAND. (Ephesians 6:13)
Obey God.
I’ve seen many things unfolding before my very eyes!
So many signs, confirmations, dreams and unusual circumstances coming together! But that does NOT mean that I understand how it will all turn out.
Because of everything that’s happened I’ve assumed a lot of things. It’s like Keith Green’s song says, “I tried to seek your plan for me but I only acted like I knew!” Sometimes I act like I have it all figured out. I’m so certain, so sure. But the truth is, God hasn’t actually told me what He’s going to do yet! I should probably stop assuming that I know what every twist and turn of providence means.
You need to be very careful in assuming that you understand the hand of providence.
Appearances can be deceiving!
What appears to be bad could actually be a doorway into something that’s good!
That’s certainly been the case in my life before.
Also, just because something appears to be good, does not necessarily indicate the blessing of God on it. God can close that “good door” at any moment if He wants to.
AND…
The door that I think is so good, and I want God to open so bad, might not be good for me at all!!
This is why obedience is so important. God doesn’t want me out on my porch reading tea leaves trying to figure out every little wind of change that providence blows my way.
William Cowper’s well known hymn “God Moves In A Mysterious Way” puts it best.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own Interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
We cannot correctly interpret providence with our own understanding. We, however, can never go wrong in obeying the Lord.
Obedience will always lead us into the blessing of God.
If in my quest for answers, I start trying to figure out providence, I end up on a long and winding road that usually ends up in confusion.
I used to think God was dumping a bunch of puzzle pieces into my lap and He wanted me to put the puzzle of my life together. I no longer believe that. In fact, when I look back at all the major events of my life one thing that stands out to me with startling clarity is just how clearly He was able to speak to me in my hour of need so that I could understand His will. I didn’t have to guess what it was, He made it absolutely clear.
This is not to say that He hasn’t given me prophetic foreshadowings or dreams and visions for me to ponder, only that when it came right down to it He spoke with such authority that I couldn’t possibly miss what He was trying to tell me.
The sobering truth is that my interpretation of providence while in the midst of it is biased at best. In fact, my understanding of providence while it is unfolding is most often wrong!
Providence is best understood from hindsight. I cannot predict the path a tornado will take, but it’s not hard to understand what the path was in retrospect!
I think one of the reasons that God let’s us perceive His providential hand in advance is so that after events have taken place we can look back and be amazed! Providence is not meant so much to guide us as it is to show us that we were truly guided by the Lord after everything has taken place. It’s a witness to the fact that God’s hand is on our life.
Providence may thrill our souls, and rightfully so, but obedience brings us into the blessing.
Obeying God step-by-step is the surest and most direct path to blessing.
It’s wonderful to see the Hand of God in providence, but the path of obedience is how we actually enter in to inherit the land!
Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will raise you up to inherit the land. -Psalm 37:34
What does it mean to “keep His way” other than to obey Him and live in a righteous manner that pleases Him?
And when He has finally given us the land, what is it that causes us to have peak enjoyment of it? Is it not again a willing and obedient heart?
“If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.” -Isa 1:19
It’s not my ability to correctly read providence that matters. My willingness to obey is what brings me into the blessings of God.
As it pertains to my current situation the main thing that God has been telling me over and over again is to WAIT FOR HIM.
From ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. – Isaiah 64:4
WAIT FOR GOD TO ACT. DON’T TRY TO BRING IT ABOUT YOURSELF.
Charles Stanley always said, “Obey God, and leave all the consequences to Him.”
That is superb advice!!
I need God to fortify me in my desire to obey at all costs. The enemy keeps trying to weaken my resolve. The insinuation he makes is that if I delay, what I desire will slip through my hands. But is that really the case? If it’s really God that’s giving me something, how will it slip through my hands if I choose to obey? It hardly seems likely that I will lose what God wants me to possess if I make it my aim to live in obedience to Him.
Not my interpretation, but Your intention Lord
I hear my desires within me competing with the voice of God. He tells me to wait for the very thing I want to rush into!
I tell myself…
- Everything seems so perfect!
- What possible reason could there be to wait??
- I could have it now!
- It looks like God has already given it to me, all I have to do is take it!
EXCEPT FOR ONE THING…
The whole time God keeps telling me, “WAIT FOR MY PLAN TO UNFOLD”.
This is precisely what the Israelites failed to do when they were in the wilderness
But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold. -Psalm 106:13
JUST WAIT.
God’s word to me is opposite of Nike’s slogan! Instead of telling me to “Just do it” He tells me, “Just wait!”
The circumstances look so favorable. I could easily interpret them as the will of God for my life! But the prayer that I keep finding on my lips is, “Not my interpretation, but Your intention Lord.”
How easy it is for me to interpret my circumstances the way that I would like things to go!!
When I thought things were going my way I was happy to ascribe it to the will of God. But when things took a turn in the opposite direction I tried to make excuses!
I was relatively happy to wait for His plan to unfold when it looked like He was giving me what I wanted. Am I just as happy to wait for His plan to unfold if He decides to take it all away?
Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” -Job 1:21
When Job said these words it says that he, “fell to the ground and worshiped”!
Is that your heart? Will you worship God however it goes? Do you believe that God’s way is better than yours? Will you fall on your face and say, “Thank you Jesus, I don’t understand what’s going on, but I know that you love me, and I trust you in this”?
How can I ever understand what His will is for me unless I adopt that disposition?
I’m not trying to hold on, and I’m not trying to let go. I’m simply trying to be obedient to God with each new step.
This is a walk of trust and obedience. I can’t walk by my circumstances. It doesn’t matter whether it seems good or bad to me.
God can blow things into my life and He can strip things out of my life. It’s not hard for Him. He controls the weather. He wants me to simply trust Him.
God’s not calling me to be a weather forecaster. He’s not asking me to figure out the twists and turns of the tornado of providence. All He’s asking me to do is obey!
If I obey He will direct me safely through the storm and bring me to a safe harbor.
The sailors were glad that the storm was quiet. He guided them to the harbor they had longed for. -Psalm 107:30
As I’ve gone through this whole thing I realize that one of the greatest helps to obedience is surrender. So I’m praying again today that God would just uproot anything that He doesn’t want in my life.
But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. – Matthew 15:10
Uproot any desires that You didn’t plant in my heart. Uproot any prophecies, dreams impressions, words and visions if they didn’t actually come from You! Remove any false interpretations, however deeply rooted, that You didn’t plant. Deliver me from vain imagination and reading into every little circumstance. Free me from my assumptions. Deliver me from idolatry of heart and wanting something so bad that I can no longer see straight. Incline my ear to Your voice and my heart to Your will.
Not only do I need to accept what God does, I need to actually pray for it! God is a very thorough gardener. He knows how to make things grow and how to get rid of choking weeds!
The greatest stripping away that ever took place in my life brought the greatest glory I’ve ever known.
The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in His temple all cry, “Glory!” -Psalm 29:9
I love this verse. The ones that were crying glory because of the stripping away were the ones that were in His Temple! If you’re in the presence of the Lord in His Temple even if the whole forest of your life is laid bare you can still cry “Glory”!!!
Oh hallelujah, just to be in possession of Jesus! Suddenly it doesn’t matter anymore about the trees in the forest.
Obedience will bring you into His temple. Obedience will bring you to the place where you cry “Glory”! Obedience will bring you to the place where it doesn’t matter anymore whether He gives you something or takes it away. As long as you find yourself in His presence it really doesn’t matter.
I remember how swiftly the forest was laid bare in my life a few years ago. In the blink of an eye my life was laid bare. Just like that. GONE. He told me not to pursue it, I obeyed, and it was gone forever.
BUT THAT BLESSED SUBTRACTION was the beginning of every good thing that I enjoy in my life right now! God laid the forest bare and I’m still shouting glory because of it!
Why worry then about figuring out providence? Hasn’t God proven to you His love? Don’t you already know that you’re going to end up someplace better than you were before?? Don’t you know that He’s causing all things to work together for your good?
It’s time to submit, surrender, and accept.
Just let everything go into the Hand of God. Let Him take whatever He wants. It will all come back to you in a bigger and better way. Better gold refined than mixed with ore.
Rather than being distressed about the things that have not worked out, I should realize that by providentially removing things God is clarifying the field! He’s removed the distractions that would otherwise vail His purpose. If He strips the forest bare I have a clearer vision of what lies ahead of me! Thank you for removing the things in my field of vision that don’t belong there. They were only keeping me from seeing your face and hearing your voice clearly.
I don’t want something in my life so badly that I’m going to take Satan as a bedfellow to get it. If God’s not the one who’s giving it to me, I don’t want it.
So the moral of the story is not to be too quick to jump to conclusions when it comes to providence and it’s attending signs. Let the Winds of Providence blow as they will, your duty is to walk the path of obedience. It is the surest and quickest way to reach your destiny.
When faced with providence that appears to conflict with obedience, always choose obedience.