Isaiah 55: 8-9
In his book, God: As He Longs For You to See Him, Pastor Chip Ingram talks about the move west that he and his family took early in his ministry career.
“I had been a pastor in rural Texas outside of Dallas for the last eight years, and I knew God was up to something new in our future. I prayed he would send us east, closer to family and support, as one of my teenage sons was going through the beginning of a rebellious streak. God’s call came, and it was west, not east. We moved an additional two thousand miles from all our family. Theresa and all four kids were crying as we pulled out in our van for the long drive to our new life. They didn’t stop crying until Amarillo. We were obeying the clear orders of the King, but emotionally it felt terrible. I was the family leader taking everyone away from friends, family, and all that was familiar. How could a good God let obedience to his will feel so terrible? The adjustments were hard, the new church presented challenges I’d never faced, and my rebellious son became more rebellious. Where was this loving, good, and sovereign God now? I felt so alone, so confused, and often deeply discouraged.”
It is sometimes hard to trust God. But did you know He was Sovereign? That means that He makes the rules of the universe… and can bend a few if necessary. And yet we continue to fret about how things are working out (or seem to be working out) in our love lives, our financial situations, our attempts to get ahead,etc. God continually reminds us through the prophet Isaiah: “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
Jay Vernon McGee once said: “This is God’s universe, and God does things His way. You may have a better way, but you don’t have a universe.” You can attempt to live in your own “Matrix” but it is wiser, and saner, to trust God and live in the Milky Way with the rest of us. He made it. He tends it. And “it” includes you.
Ingram continues his story: Fast forward ten years. The new church developed skills, character, and ministry beyond my wildest dreams. The adversity brough a deeper unity into our family and took our marriage to a whole new level. The rebellious son did “a one-eighty” and had opportunities in music that were nonexistent in Texas. God built a family, grew a church, launched a radio ministry, and turned a rebellious son into a Christian songwriter and worship leader for God’s people. What felt like disaster, and what seemed so unfair, was the good hand of a sovereign God working out his highest and best purposes for my life and my family. (God: As He Longs For You to See Him, pp. 98-99.)
Maybe it is good we don’t have a universe… we might just muck it up.
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