the greenest grass around

I came across this statement this week while scrolling through Facebook.

At first glance, I scrolled by, but the message kept coming back to me. My initial thought was, “Yeah, okay. After the year I have had.” But the more and more I thought about the message, I do agree with it.

It is important, and hard at the same time, to remember that God is always in control. He was the same yesterday as he is today. He knows the future and the past, he knows our hearts and our situations. Job 31:4 “Does he not see my ways and number all my steps.”

God knows. He knew what would happen today long before it came to pass. This is hard to understand. If God knows what will happen, why does he know to change things or stop them? Why does he let us suffer?

There is no way to ever know. But in Romans 9:14-18 we can see a small glimpse into how Paul sees this. “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. The Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”

God has a plan and a purpose for every single situation we are in. The good situations, the job well done, the pay raise, the answered prayer, and the lost job, the illness, and even the death. “For this purpose, I have raised you up.” God put Moses in a terrible situation that lasted his lifetime. But how would history have played out differently if Moses would have refused? What would have happened if Moses ran the other way? What if Moses lead them out of Egypt and left them when the people started complaining?

I have no idea why God puts the things in our paths that make up shatter into pieces. I have no idea why God allowed my son to die in front of me. I will probably never know. Am I happy about it, No? I am pleased with God, No? Do I wish there would have been another way, of course?

Just like when God took Moses and the people out of Egypt, God will make a way for you too. It might not be the way you wanted, expected, or prayed for, but God will make a way.