The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29)
When was the last time your life went according to your plan for any significant length of time?
What was that you said? There never was a significant length of time like that? I can relate! My life never goes according to my plan. Yesterday didn’t go according to my plan; today is not going according to my plan; and I doubt very much that tomorrow will go according to my plan either! And the reason my life does not go according to my plan is because I am not the author and perfecter of my life’s plan . . . God is.
When you think about it, the story of our lives could be titled “The Master’s Mystery Novel.” There is no need to go out and purchase the latest best-selling mystery novel; our lives are mystery novels, stories crafted by the omniscient, omnipotent, hand of Almighty God before we were born (Psalm 139:16).
Oh, I make plans, set goals, and plot the best course of action to take. I have said many times that Christians should be the number one goal-setting group of people on the planet, and I believe that. If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). But God is directing my every step along the way, and more often than not, His direction takes me off my script.
There are times when the Master’s mystery novel makes it look like our lives are out of control, and it certainly is true that our lives are completely out of any significant measure of our control. But God has everything under His control, His wise and sovereign control, “for from him and through him and to him are all things” (Romans 11:36).
God is the One who has written our story, “from life’s first cry to final breath,” as the song says. The Lord God Omnipotent reigns, and He knows exactly what we need and when we need it. He knows just the right amounts of mercy, grace, correction, forgiveness, encouragement, discipline, and love we need, every moment of every day. God has ordained everything that is going on in our lives right now, so He knows exactly what we need as we are going through all of it. God is involved in every detail of our lives, orchestrating all of it and using all of it — even our sinful acts of disobedience — for His glory and our good.
Regardless of where this message finds you today, you can be assured that God is at work in your life, making you more and more like Jesus, and He will do that by any means necessary. Remember that conformity to Christ is the end goal for every Christian (Romans 8:29), which means that God will stop at nothing in order to accomplish that goal. Keep trusting in Him and depending on Him as you make your way through the Master’s mystery novel of your life, knowing that He who began that good work has promised that He will one day bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6).
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 