The greatness of God is so much more than I can fathom.  I have always had an inquisitive

mind and a desire to understand.  My mom can testify to this as she sometimes shares a story of when I was five years old, I would often ask her “who made God?” among other questions.  She says I did not want to go outside and play, I just wanted to know stuff.  My inquiring mind has served me well for the most part, but lately God is continuing to remind me that I don’t need to know everything.  Knowing things can help you navigate in the world, but for a life of faith, the desire to understand can be a hindrance.  Philippians 4 says that the peace of Christ is beyond human reason.  As I have been thinking about life choices, past, present and future, God has been reminding me that He is the one who has ordained my days before one of them every happened (Psalm 139:1-18) and as I make plans, it will be Him, in His faithfulness, who will direct my steps (Proverbs 16:9).  Does that mean that I won’t make bad choices?  No, but I can have some assurance that I do not need to fear or be anxious because if I do slip, that it is God who says He will help me and that He has me by the Hand (Isaiah 41:10).   God, in His greatness, will cause all things to work together for good because it was He who has called me to love Him (Romans 8:28).  That has been comforting to know that God has established my steps (Psalm 37:23) and when I fall, not if, but when I fall, God has my hand (Psalm 37:24).

Sometimes I wonder how God can bring good from my messes, but that is the greatness of God and He can always take our broken eggs and make an omelet.  With God, the plan is the plan, God doesn’t need a back-up plan.  God is not waiting to see how things work out, ready to jump into emergency mode if duty calls.  I cannot surprise God, He knows my thoughts and my words before I do (Psalm 139) and He judges the intention of my heart and tests my motives (Proverbs 16:2).  He invites me to come boldly to the Throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:15-16) and in His graciousness, has shown me that making this approach requires great humility.  When we come in the presence of God, we are on holy ground and we must come with a humble spirit and a complete surrender to Him with a desire to do His will.  Understanding the presence of God in my life and the sovereign grace by which He administers my life, I can walk more confidently, more boldly in representing Him in this world, and I can be confident about the more subjective choices I make that scripture does not speak to clearly.  As I consider where God is calling me, my desire to be married, and other items, I can take comfort in actually knowing that God is in control and that my life is not an accident.  Even when I find myself doubting or questioning, I can have the peace of God knowing that He is orchestrating, and that is a great place to obtain and a great place to be sustained.

Lastly, as we think about our choices and the desire to know if what we are doing is the will of God, I would like to quickly share one objective way to know.  Psalm 37:4 says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart. I think the best way to approach this verse is with pure motives and an eternal perspective.  That is to say that we understand who we are in Christ (Romans 8:15-16), and therefore our relationship with God is the reason to rejoice always (Philippians 4:4).  God is not our concierge to get us stuff or genie to grant us wishes, He is our Father who desires to have time with us (Matthew 22:37);  Second, I would also say that we should be spending time in His word that we would be grounded in His truth as firmly rooted trees (Psalm 1:2-3) and would be fruitful in our lives (John 15:5); the third thing I would encourage is to approach life with the motives to seek God’s Kingdom first (Matthew 6:33).  Jesus says that if we do that, we don’t need to worry and He will take care of the rest (Matthew 6:25:34). This is what I think about when I consider who I want to spend my life with, does she put God first in everything?  From God’s word, I am quite confident that if we are walking with God in this manner, not rebelling or unrepentant, seeking a God honoring life, then we can have confidence that it is God who is controlling the desires our hearts and He will fulfill those desires (Romans 8:32).  He doesn’t say when, but assures us He is faithful and we should be faithful in waiting (Psalm 37:34).  Within those guidelines, God gives us latitude to pursue those desires to make choices on where to live, where to work, where to put His money, who to marry, and so on.  The bottom line is that God does not have a Plan B because He is not as small as we make Him out to be when we live life as if He is not in control.