Reading Tea Leaves
by WCBIt’s almost always easier to discern God’s will, His direction, His hand in our daily lives AFTER the fact. That is, we can often more easily see how God worked things out for the good when we reflect back on the way things unfolded in our lives.
But what about BEFORE or DURING?
How can we see God working now, today? If things are going well, we say God is blessing us. If we perceive things to be going badly, we begin to wonder. No? Or is it just me?
I received some life altering news today. Things are going to be significantly different for Sam and me, and I am not sure how it is going to play out. To be sure, I am not worried. Really, I’m not. Probably should be, but worrying is like breaking up – hard for me to do. I do suspect that I won’t sleep well as I will be thinking, planning, reflecting, considering, even eagerly awaiting what God has in store for the days ahead.
The men in the study groups that I participate in know in some detail that the company I write for has come upon hard times. I thought to myself, ‘cheer up, it could be worse.‘ So, I cheered up and, sure enough, it got worse. Severe pay cuts, restructuring and all that. To be sure, I still have a job, IF I want to work for much less.
So, where’s God? What’s He doing? Not doing? What do the tea leaves have to say?
Romans 8:28 is one of the great promises of Scripture -
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (NIV)
I’m thinking to myself that God is in the middle of the goings on with the company I write for, me, and my family including the new addition. It is/was easy to trust Him when things were going ‘well.’ But, right now, I’m figuring God has something better in store. After all, He’s working for the good for me and my family because we love Him and His purposes.
Jehovah Jirah, I’m loving You and trusting You now, BEFORE, I know what You have in store for me and my family.
So, what do you do when you find your world has suddenly been yanked from beneath you?
Wanna share?
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
This reminds me of Lewis’ post talking about things “gang agley.”
What Bill said about trusting God is key.
In “Reaching for the Invisible God,” Philip Yancey says, “The skeptic’s question does not melt away, though. How can I praise God for the good things in life without censuring him for the bad? I can do so only by establishing an attitude of trust — paranoia in reverse — based on what I have learned in relationship with God.
“I find a parallel in my human relationships…. Those I love, I credit for good things and try not to blame for bad, assuming instead other forces are at work.”
He talks about John Donne’s Devotions: “Obsessed, he reviews every biblical occurrence of the word fear. As he does so, it dawns on him that life will always include circumstances that incite fear; if not illness, financial hardship, if not poverty, rejection, if not loneliness, failure. In such a world, Donne has a clear choice: to fear God or to fear everything else, to trust God or to trust nothing.”
As Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Taking the long view is also key, as Peter did, and as Lewis has been reminding us that Paul also did in 2 Corinthians 4:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”