All a part of His Plan

God has really been reminding me lately, through circumstances in my life, through a book I'm reading and also my devotional, that He is Lord of every circumstance, every experience, and every detail of my life, however mundane or earthly they may seem. You know those daily life happenings that seem either trivial or utterly worldly and just a byproduct of human beings sinful, selfish nature? I find it is so easy to separate God from day-to-day situations thinking it is simply a result of living in a fallen world and that God has nothing to do with it or perhaps is allowing it, but without a greater meaning. It is so easy to just forget about God's involvement, His presence, when life hurls annoyances and stirs up ugliness. Afterall, that is just the way life is, right?  Truly, it takes a whole other level of faith to believe that God is involved in every detail of even those unpleasant, messy circumstances we so often find ourselves in.

HOWEVER...God has been opening my eyes and seizing me with a strong conviction, that He is Lord of ALL things, every word spoken, and every event that occurs. Does he cause hurtful circumstances? No! Does he prompt unkind words or thoughtless actions? NO! But does that mean He is then not Lord over them? No! We do live in a sinful, fallen world, But God is still in charge and I am made aware that He uses those events for our good, if only we will let Him. He manipulates the worldly, less than holy choices of ourselves and others to teach us what we need to learn, or answers prayers we have offered up, if we are open to hearing.

I know of Christians who subscribe to the philosophy of God being generally involved in our lives, while still claiming that bad things happen in life in which God has no part, just a part of living in a sinful world. In my opinion this is equivalent to denying both God's omnipotence and omnipresence as well as His all-encompassing love for His children. Either you believe that God is Lord (master) of all, or He is not. He is either in charge of every detail of our lives, or He isn't. Just as you cannot pick and choose parts of Scripture to be true, so you cannot claim that God is selectively involved in our lives.

So I'm challenged to look at each occurance in my life and ask, "Lord, where are you in this? What is it you want me to learn? How do you want me to respond? What are you trying to tell me though this?" It may not be evident right away, and we may never in this life understand the full reason behind an event, but I do believe that God will use EVERY circumstance to draw us closer to Him and mold us into a greater likeness of His image. My struggle will be, how will I respond....with aggravation, with self-righteous indignation, insisting on my own way, or with humility asking God to guide my thoughts, words and deeds. A daunting task, but one I feel certain God enables us to handle and will result in a more peace-filled, purposeful life.