Good News and Praise

I’m learning a lot about trust lately. So many messages I’ve listened to this week and so many passages I’ve read in the Bible have reminded me this week what trust in the Lord is all about.

Trusting in a plan we cannot see is hard. I don’t understand the plan where my son never reaches 21, where I never get to see him again, where he doesn’t get to hug his little girl. But seriously, if I understood everything about God, wouldn’t that make him a very small God? I am certainly not one of the brilliant minds in the universe, so my understanding of God and his plan would just put Him into the “man behind the curtain” category; no omniscience, no omnipresence, no omnipotence…just some guy behind the curtain.

But that is not our God! He sees everything. He orchestrates everything. His plan is perfect. And, He is so immense and immeasurable that we will never understand everything about Him while we are on this side of Heaven.

My plan would have controlled everything in my little world, a picture of my own selfish desires. That is, until something went wrong or the rest of the world intruded, and then I could only blame myself for forgetting about everyone else and how they fit in. My plan would only work if I was the only person in the universe and even then, I am quite sure I would screw it up after only a few hours.

I’ve heard our earthly understanding compared to watching a parade. A parade may be 2 miles long, yet we are seeing only that part of it that is immediately in front of us at any one time. God can see the entire parade, from beginning to end all at once. He created the parade. He knows where it’s going, who is in it, when it starts and ends, and even what the parade is all about. We are here to clap as it goes by. We are here to glorify God. As we watch, we know the parade will have a beginning and an end, and that despite any minor breakdowns or glitches as it goes by, it will still go as planned.

That, my friends, is God’s plan. We must trust it because He has it under control. We trust our lives to God because that’s the plan. If we fall down during the parade, or we get our wires crossed, or even if someone we love has to leave the parade early, the event still goes on as planned. The success of the parade depends on the rest of the participants continuing despite the bumps in the road. All of the willing participants meet at the end of the parade to reflect on what a great parade it was…and how perfectly planned.

I confess that I don’t understand the plan, and dare I say I don’t always like the plan. But I only see a tiny piece as I travel through this life. I know the plan is perfectly timed and perfectly executed and I trust completely that Rhys is waiting at the finish with our Savior Jesus.

When life is hard, when life hands us sorrows and disappointments, when life doesn’t go according to our plan, when we feel the heavy burden of our utter lack of understanding, we must trust. We must trust passionately and completely, knowing that He that is in us is greater than the world around us. Rhys understood that. He assured me when I was so concerned that he would be so far away that God is always with us, no matter where we are. Rhys trusted the plan, even when it took him to a hostile, foreign land. I must trust with the same conviction and confidence.

I will compare notes with Rhys when I see him again!