Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. -Isaiah 46:9–10
All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” -Daniel 4:35
In these verses, we find a critical point that is so easily lost in the noise of today—God is God, and he alone is in control of all things!
God knows what he has already decreed and what he intends to do as he knows the end from “ancient times” and what is still to come. He feels no obligation to fulfill anyone else’s plans or be accountable to anyone.
We often imagine ourselves to be the final determiner and shaper of things. Our will, intelligence, shrewdness, and cleverness make the world go round. God’s role is either to rubberstamp our schemes or to stand idly by, impressed as we control the world.
God may step in occasionally for the big moves, but he leaves things up to us. This bogus understanding of God on our part leads to much disillusionment and distress in life. Imagine how frightening a world it would be if God merely played the referee of history rather than the scriptwriter, the director, and the principal player on the stage.
So, are you discouraged and overwhelmed by where you are in your life, where you thought you’d be, what is happening in the world, and more? Is your question, What have you done, God?
Here’s the good news for you: God has a plan that displaces all other plans, good or bad. He allows the bad to play out with the good, and with his incomparable skill in writing his script over ours, he turns all other plans into his perfect plan. The finale will be as he had planned from the beginning—the great Scriptwriter has his way.
If God were as inactive and uninvolved as we often suppose, then there would be plenty of reasons to be negative and virtually none to be positive. Our joy and confidence soar when the truth pierces through our brain fog that a Superintendent of all creation controls how it all comes out. In him, there is no room for despair, discouragement, or pessimism but abundant hope and life everlasting!
–Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash
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