If only I had a dollar for every time I heard that one. Clichè or not, it is a truism which frequently bears out in everyone's lives. Sometimes the unfairness factor of life rushes at us in absolute fury. We maybe doing everything we are supposed to do and yet we are still left to deal with pain, suffering, illness, heartache, disappointment...the list goes on into infinity. But we forget that until something comes along in life that reminds us of the inherent unfairness of it all.
Recently my wife, Stephanie, and I were reminded that even if you do what you should you are not granted a special pass on bad stuff. A few weeks ago we were involved in what could very well have been a catastrophic accident. Thankfully, neither of us sustained anything more serious than bruises, but we were scared out of our wits. We were not doing anything wrong, we were doing exactly what we were supposed to do, but that did not keep a potential tragic situation from happening. All it takes is one person to momentarily take their eyes off the road, to glance at something in their vehicle, ignore a stop sign or light, and things can get very bad very quickly. Now, this is not meant to be a PSA for safe driving. No, there is a far more important lesson to learn here.
The wisest man of the ancient world wrote, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6, CSB). We often take that verse out of context and twist it to mean something that it never has. Solomon does not instruct us that if we trust God everything will always be perfect. He doesn't teach us that if we seek after God with all our heart then life will always be fair. Instead, he is telling forgetful, hardhearted, stubborn believers that trusting in God depends upon you giving up on your understanding. Seeking and following Christ means totally trusting in Him.
So, what does this mean for us? And what does an auto accident have to do with this? Trusting in God means that sometimes you are doing what is right, you are following Christ with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength, yet bad things still happen. When those bad things happen we are to keep trusting in God, and forget everything we know about how things are supposed to work. Knowing God in all of our ways means that sometimes the paths God is making straight for us go completely off-road. You might think it is scary, horrifying and even insane, but God has laid out a straight path for you.
Life rarely turns out the way we want it to. When things go crazy, keep trusting God with all your heart. When your world is literally turning upside down on you, keep on knowing God in all your ways. Will everything turn out Okay? From our perspective, possibly not. From the perspective of the Father, those paths were laid out straight, just for us, long before.
- Ray Perdue // Men's Ministry Director
