The Wind In Our Sails

Over the years, I’ve come to notice that life is much more about uncertainty than it is about certainty.  There are a few things I feel sure of, but on a bad day I can even question those.  That’s the journey, isn’t it?  We don’t know what tomorrow holds.  We don’t always understand why yesterday happened. And we often haven’t got a clue what we should do next. 

The beauty of living life as a believer is that God is God and we are not.  Thank goodness. That takes so much pressure off our shoulders. I’m not saying that we have no responsibility.  Far from it!  Our choices really matter to God, they matter in our relationships and they matter in how we touch the world around us.  I cringe when I hear people say things like, “God’s going to do what he wants to do so why pray?” Or “All my decisions are already decided so what’s there to think about?” And my personal favorite (insert sarcasm) “I’m saved by grace and it’s impossible to be perfect so it doesn’t really matter how I live.”  I believe that any thoughts along these lines are based on faulty theology and are a huge part of why the American church has lost its’ influence in our culture.  As followers of Christ, we do have a responsibility to seek God and to make the best choices we can.

BUT, the beauty of being God’s child is that He’s in control.  I know that I just said our choices matter.   They do.  But God is also in control and bigger than our choices.   Why is it so hard for our brains to find peace in the fact that God’s ways are beyond our understanding?  Why would we want to fully understand Him?  He’s God, after all.    I love that I feel small when I think about how complex He is.  He is just and He is kind.  He is mighty and He is gentle. He has given me free will and He has chosen me.  He allows me to make choices about my life and He is in control of and has ordained certain things in my life. He isn’t either or. He’s both and.

If you aren’t okay with contradictions then you probably weren’t okay with the whole discussion of uncertainty anyway. As for me, I find peace in it.  It reminds me that I worship a living, powerful and big God that not a man on this planet can fully know or understand.  There’s always more to Him.   God is the one I trust with my heart and He has been faithful to hold it gently for 40 years. But 40 years doesn’t insure certainty and clear direction.  Don’t be fooled. Life is always about uncertainty.  It’s a journey and that means that you face new places and new choices along the way. Making the choice as to which way to go is as uncertain, at times, as the outcome of that choice.   These choices come at every stage of life and are wrapped around the things that matter most to us.  Our families, our occupation, our finances, our ministry, our friends, our values, our future…the choices are real and the worry over whether we will make the right ones can paralyze us if we don’t remember to take courage.

God is God and we are not.

He’s bigger than our questions and our decisions.   He promises to care for His own and to lead those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him.  No matter how old I get, I think I’ll always need to remember this and God is faithful to jog my memory in beautiful ways.

I’ve written before about how God uses songs, movies and books to explain things to me in a deeper way and He’s done it on this topic as well.  “Voyage” by Bethel Music has been the cry of my heart for a month or so now. It has soothed my worries and stirred up excitement in my soul.  I can’t tell you how many mornings I’ve wept as I played it over and over and over.  Its’ words have reminded me that God is always moving in my life and in the lives of people I care about. That my responsibility isn’t to figure life out but to trust Him.  That following Him, even when I don’t know where He’s going, is part of the adventure. That I have a job to do so I need to do it even when I’m feeling terrified or insecure…

God has used it to bring healing to my heart as I’ve remembered that life can be easy, difficult, joyful and painful but He never leaves me alone and He is faithful to provide along the way.

He is my peace. He is my hope.  He is my purpose.  He is my joy.  He is my rest.   He is the wind that carries me along and He is the rain that refreshes me.

If you are in the middle of questions or worries, I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do.  I hope it brings peace to your soul and reminds you that He is bigger than your issue.   I hope that faith and peace become the defining characteristics of your life along the way.   After all, He is not only in the journey,  He is the journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3vuxpMKUM