Years ago while attending a women’s Bible study I was asked to be a children’s leader. I was to pray and think about that decision and report back with my answer.
As I was leaving the interviewer said,
“Don’t feel obligated, if you decide not to take this opportunity someone else will step up into it.”
To me, that could be a promise and it could be a threat. If I know I should do something that God has given me to do and procrastinate, or too fearful to move into it someone else will come along and do it. I’d be off the hook but I could “lose the glory” so to speak. Or I can read that verse like God shaking his finger at me to get moving and do something about my situation. It could be a relationship I know I could make better but don’t really want to blaming the other person. There are all kinds of possibilities here.
I’d be off the hook, but I could “lose the glory” so to speak. Or I can read that verse like God shaking his finger at me to get moving and do something about my situation. It could be a relationship I know I could make better but don’t really want to blaming the other person. There are all kinds of possibilities here.
God works through cause and effect in the natural world to supervise events. Providence—God works out His purposes through natural processes in the physical universe. In this universe every effect can be traced back to a natural cause. In the natural we’d call it a coincidence. God is always at work in the lives of His people. Coincidence in our life is ordained by God and is intended for our good.
For instance from this Scripture in the book of Esther, Vashti’s willfulness-refusing to come before her drunken husband and the reasoning of the king’s advisors dismissed the queen but lead the way for Esther to become queen and help the Jews.
God shaped the events using the behavior of the Queen, King, his advisors and Esther to promote the Jews.
What if Esther didn’t step up and speak to the king? Esther’s hesitancy, King Xerxes sleepless night, the reader just happened to read Mordecai’s report revealing the plot against the king, in the exact time needed are all part of God’s plan to promote the Jews.
The plot against the Jews was not only thwarted but also used to promote the very people it was meant to harm. Looking ahead there’s often danger wrapped in fear. You can only see where you are really going by looking back. We don’t usually sense God’s protection or guidance until we look back to see where we’ve been and to realize what God is doing.
Do you see a situation that you know you could influence for good and don’t? Do you let the sun go down without making the decision just to put it off so you don’t have to deal with it?
I’m working on something like that myself right now. It’s not easy, but it’s right and will be worth it in the long run. Often these actions have a long-term purpose. God is at work, although hidden, very real. Look back and see what God has done, celebrate His hand on you and step into the day, this is the only one you can be sure of.
Tomorrow may or may not ever come.