THE LORD ORDERS OUR STEPS...

March 21, 2024

THE LORD ORDERS OUR STEPS...

Have you ever battled with feeling disappointed? You have a desire, plan, and hope that is seemingly good, upright, and morally legit, only to find that desire, plan, or hope fall flat. There you are, frustrated and disappointed, but life just keeps on moving on all around you and you just want it to stop for a second and for somebody to explain this to you. We've all been there. I have been, my husband and I have been, and I bet you have too. In those moments of "why"....I try to think of Job - the man who had everything and then hand absolutely nothing. It's a epic story of a great man of faith whose faith, in spite of frustration, pain, suffering, great loss, and disappointment, didn't waver. We all face times of frustration, pain, suffering, great loss, and disappointment. We all have those, "why" moments...those why this, why now, why us, why me moments. In Job 1:21 we see Job acknowledging that God is sovereign. SOVERIGN - now that is a weighty word to grapple with. Sovereign means: supreme ruler, possessing supreme or ultimate power, royal power and status, absolute power and authority. So, in a nutshell - God rules and reigns with absolute power and authority over all and absolutely everything is under his control. This fantastical truth about God brings Job comfort, because of his relationship and history with God. Though we see in the story Job is clearly not "loving" his difficult circumstances, we see him trusting God, fellowshipping with him, pouring his guts out to him, and ultimately, praising him. Then we see God restore Job. Satan thought Job would curse God if God allowed his comfort, family, riches, and health to be taken from him - but Job had a wonderful mindset that sustained him through the extreme difficulties he faced....*Job 1:21 - Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised.* Can we say that? Is that our mindset in the face of frustration, pain, suffering, great loss, and disappointment? Do we, you and I, have our foundation build so securely on our SOVEREIGN GOD, who rules and reigns with absolute power and authority, that we would be able to find comfort in our relationship and history with him? We can make our plans, but it is the Lord who orders and directs our steps...Proverbs 16:9 - all the stuff that works out and all the stuff that falls flat. We say God is in control and that we believe and trust him, but do we actually live that out when life doesn't go the way we thought it would have or should have? Do we trust him, believe he is who he says he is enough to praise him even as we battle feelings of disappointment? Do we draw from the deep well of fellowship with him and all that he has already brought us through, knowing he will bring us through this as well, and will do whatever is best for us? Or have we stayed in the shallow waters of faith and only see that we have been let down? Will we pout, be angry, offended, and shortsighted rather than being Kingdom minded? Will our thinking stay stuck, fleshy, and earthbound or will we allow ourselves to operate, through the Holy Spirit from the spiritual realm where Gods throne room is? There is a big picture, you and I cannot see in its entirety as God sees. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. If we picture our lives as a huge complex parade that seems to go endlessly on and on...we can maybe grasp just how extremely limited our view is. We are not God, we cannot and will never be able to fully grasp the big picture, but we can choose to have total trust and faith in the one who does. Ok, back to the parade view - you and I stand in our spot in the crowd and watch the parade, viewing it one section at a time, only able to see what is in front of us at any given moment. That is our only perspective, if we only see what we see. One of my most favorite quotes is from Dr. Tony Evans: If all you see is what you see, you have not seen all that is to be seen. READ THAT AGAIN!!!!! We are called to walk by faith, not by sight - 2 Corinthians 5:7. We live in a seeing is believing world but God has called us to a believing is seeing kind of faith. Our God, our Sovereign God, who rules and reigns with absolute power and authority, sees the parade of life from the beginning to the end all at once. Nothing escapes him, nothing shocks or surprises him. The struggles, hurts, loss, and disappointments are not a shock to him - he knows what we need and when we need it - he promises to supply all of our needs according to his riches in glory - Philippians 4:19. We may have desires, plans, and hopes that don't see the light of day or don't work out the way we expected or maybe it's just a matter of timing - the parade is always moving and the God, the SOVERIGN God who rules over it with full power and authority, will, fulfill every plan and purpose he has for us, supplying our every need according to HIS will. We make our plans, but do we rest and trust in the one who orders our steps? Will we struggle against him, trying to do it all our way, or will we surrender to the one who made us, designed us and has a plan for us. We can make our plans - but let's hold loosely to those plans as we help and encourage each other to trust the one who orders our steps so we will get to see what wonders he has in store for us.

I pray we, you and I, release our desire to be in charge and in control, and hand it over to our Sovereign God, who rules and reigns with absolute power and authority.

In Christ Jesus,

Cassandra Lee 💗