God Is Always In Control: Watch Him Work
“Rejoice in the Lord, always again I say rejoice.” - Philippians 4:4
STOPLIGHT FRUSTRATIONS
For the first couple years of my Christian life I tried to rejoice that God was in control of little irritations like stoplights. But then, gradually over a period of almost 10 years, doubts began to grow slowly in me. They surfaced one day when I was 25.
I was in a big hurry. A traffic light stopped me cold. I tried to say “Thank you, God,” but I was overwhelmed with doubts. God is not in control of this stoplight. Some fellow set a timer years ago and it’s been clicking off all this time. I’ve been stopped by a timer, not by God. God has absolutely nothing to do with this.
What can you say to thoughts like that? They sound reasonable, don’t they? Yet I couldn’t just throw away my confidence in God. I knew God was real, and I’d seen many miracles by this time in my life. Yet the question of God’s sovereignty over the little affairs of my life was really troubling me.
Romans 8:28 says God will work everything in life for our good. That sounds cheery, but doubts raged inside me—is it true? How can God work a stoplight’s change and a million other little incidents for good in my life if He’s not somehow—in some way—in control—or at least involved with them? My answer came one day in the craziest way.
OLD BUSES BREAK ☹
I was leading a group of American teenagers on a wilderness trip. I’d driven an old bus for hours to get to our destination. It was 3am when we finally arrived in the King’s Canyon Campground—just below Yosemite.
As I inched the bus through the loops of the darkened campground, I saw a couple speed bumps in front of me in my lights. I decided to give my snoring passengers a happy wake-up. I rolled my front tires over the first bump then popped the clutch hard as I rolled the rear tires over the second bump.
Wham! The students lifted six inches off their seats!
Before anyone could figure out what happened—and with massive confusion breaking out in the bus—I popped the clutch extra hard over the second bump and hit them really high! I roared with laughter as the bus coasted to a stop. After I kidded my now wide-awake audience and announced our arrival, I tried to move the bus.
Whirr, whirr, hummed the engine. We didn’t move. I tried putting the big beast into gear again. Whirr, whirr. Nothing still. It wouldn’t budge. An amateur mechanic friend of mine jumped out and checked the problem. He came back with the disheartening news; “You snapped the axle, Don. You need a new one.” Groan. I couldn’t believe it.
Everyone hopped out, pushed the bus to the side of the road, got out their sleeping bags, and dropped off to sleep in a flash. Not me. I was too busy berating myself for doing such a stupid thing. But something beautiful and completely unexpected happened.
MORE IN CONTROL THAN EVER DREAMED
As I laid in my sleeping bag looking up at a spectacular starry sky, God began to address a deep set of doubts that had grown over the years. A great sense of awe came over me.
If I could put into words what He spoke to my heart, it’s this, Don, you know there are over 100 billion stars in your galaxy, the Milky Way. You also know there are billions of galaxies just like it. My Word tells you, “The Heavens declare My glory.” (Psalms 19:1) It’s not your body, nor the wonders of the animal or plant world that tell you of the greatness of My glory and power; it is the universe that does this. The universe is My grand statement to you of the extent of My power. I am much, much greater then you can ever understand.
Trust Me again, My son, as you did in the days of your youth. I am in charge of that axle. It broke because of your foolishness, yes, but I have known about its condition since the day it was made. I’ve been aware of every atom of iron in it that has rusted these last two decades. I knew that the torque you put on it tonight would snap it. You’re here by your own mistake, but I knew you’d be here. And I planned before you were born to use even this mistake for your good. Just seek Me in the morning like you always do and watch Me work in this and in every other situation in your life.
I laid there on my bumpy bed electrified. What a powerful statement to my legions of doubt. I drifted off to sleep with a huge smile… and total peace.
THE FIX
The next morning a friend volunteered to drive four hours to the nearest town to look for a new axle for our antiquated bus. Amazingly he found the exact one we needed at his first stop. When he arrived back at camp, someone in the campground volunteered to put it in and we were up and running again in no time. But something much, much greater had occurred.
From that brief message from God to me under that starry sky, I realized in a new depth that God was immeasurably more powerful, more intelligent, and more loving than I ever dreamed He was. And, in the decades that have passed since then, I have seen God exert power and work situations for good in my life and other’s lives—in so many ways that I could talk for dozens of hours and not tell you them all.
THE FIX
Trust God with all your heart. That is something that takes a lifetime to begin to understand the incredible depths of.
Do this with all your might. Now. About everything. He won’t disappoint you.
And do not lean not on your own limited and often faulty understanding. Entrust your life to Him and He will take your life and do exactly what He says He is able to do–exceeding, abundantly, beyond all you could ever thought or prayed He would! (Ephesians 3:20).
“He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your tongue with joyful shouting. Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them. The Lord has done GREAT things for us; we are glad!.” - Psalms 126:2
Nothing compares with the Creator of heaven and earth moving on one’s behalf.
Don Miller
