The Unhurried Way

“For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” — Romans 11:36

Yesterday we considered what happens when doing the right thing seems to make life harder rather than easier. But that leaves another question: if we cannot understand why something is happening, where is God in the middle of it?

Scripture does not describe God as a distant observer who watches the events of our lives unfold and occasionally steps in to help. He is sovereign over His creation. Nothing surprises Him, nothing escapes His knowledge, and nothing that enters our lives is beyond His ability to use for His purposes.

That truth becomes especially important when life makes little sense from where we are standing.

Romans 8:28 tells us, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Paul does not say that all things are good. Scripture never asks us to call evil good, pretend suffering does not hurt, or convince ourselves that loss is somehow pleasant. Instead, it gives us something far more comforting: God can take even the things that are not good and work through them according to His purpose.

Joseph’s life gives us one of the clearest pictures of this. His brothers hated him, sold him into slavery, and allowed their father to believe he was dead. Joseph was carried into Egypt, falsely accused, imprisoned, and forgotten by someone who had promised to help him. Looking at any single part of that story while Joseph was living through it, we might have wondered where God was.

Years later, however, Joseph could see something he could not have seen from the bottom of the pit.

Speaking to his brothers, he said, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good.” — Genesis 50:20

Joseph did not deny what his brothers had done. Their actions were still evil and they remained responsible for them. Yet their sin was not powerful enough to overthrow God’s purposes. What they intended for destruction became part of the road by which God placed Joseph where he would eventually help preserve countless lives.

We often have the disadvantage of standing somewhere in the middle of our own story.

We see the unexpected bill, the broken plan, the closed door, the painful goodbye, the delay that makes no sense, or the prayer that seems unanswered. God sees what came before it, what will come after it, and how every piece fits within a story we cannot yet see in full.

This does not mean we will eventually understand the reason for every hardship. Some things may become clear with time, while others may remain mysteries throughout our earthly lives. Faith does not require us to invent explanations God has not given us.

It does, however, allow us to trust the character and sovereignty of God when explanations have not yet come.

Romans 11:36 reminds us that all things are “of him, and through him, and to him.” Our lives are not divided between moments in which God is involved and ordinary moments in which He is absent. We can look for Him in the interruption as well as the blessing, in the waiting as well as the answer, and in the road we never expected to travel as well as the one we carefully planned.

Sometimes we may recognize His hand almost immediately. Other times we may look backward years later and suddenly understand why a particular door closed or why our lives took an unexpected turn. And sometimes our only answer will remain, I still don’t understand.

Even then, we can know that we have never stepped outside His hands.

Perhaps that is where trust begins—not in knowing exactly what God is doing, but in knowing who God is.

Prayer

Father, there are things in my life that I do not understand, and sometimes I wish You would simply show me how everything fits together. Help me remember that my inability to see Your purpose does not mean You do not have one.

Teach me to recognize Your hand in the ordinary circumstances of my life as well as the extraordinary ones. When something painful or unexpected happens, help me seek You within it rather than assuming You are absent from it.

Take what I cannot understand and use it according to Your purposes. Give me the humility not to invent answers You have not given me and the faith to trust that nothing in my life is beyond Your sovereignty.

When I can see what You are doing, help me praise You. When I cannot, help me trust You still.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

For Today: You may be standing in the middle of a story whose purpose you cannot yet see. Instead of demanding that today explain itself, ask God to help you recognize His presence within it and trust Him with the parts that remain hidden.