It’s a gimmie that when joy, dreams realized or unexpected blessings reign in my life, I can easily see the Hand of God in them all. However, it is so much harder to see the Hand of God in things that are not so beautiful a gift. Life, lately, while heaped in blessings, also, has piles of manure that I had to remind myself might, additionally, be from the Hand of God.
God has purpose for all of our lives and every minute in our lives. We might not always understand; but through times when we look up to heaven and cry out “really, God? Are You Sure?”, our Heavenly Father might be availing us His most loving and wisest of Hands. Or, so my life has reasoned, lately.
From the time I was a child, God has led me to (and through) unbelievable miracles, blessings and, yes, even great trials and tribulations. God’s Hand always proves to be the source, the power and the will and way through the good, the bad and the indifferent.
The strings of events in our lives are often without logic or human wisdom. None the less, God’s Hand is beneath each and every strand interwoven in our lives. I see the Hand of God not because I am wise but because I have had so much experience seeing the Hand of God emphatically appear throughout my life.
When good befalls, I clearly know and admit nothing I did (or was within my power) secured the gift. Only the Hand of God could deliver it. It took me a lot longer to realize God’s Hand, also, brings strife, disappointment and, even, failure to my life. Why? The answer rests in my character, moral compass and depending on God grows best in the muddy mire of struggling through darkness, than it does from basking in the sunshine of perfect days.
The Hand of God doesn’t allow trials and tribulations to uproot and defeat us but, rather, to plant our roots deep in His Hand and trust His Hand is the foundation that can bring purpose and blessing out of sorrow, stumbling and, even, what at first glance appears to be failure. Truth is out of worldly failure can come the strongest of spiritual successes. Tragically, if we fail to see God’s uplifting and safeguarding Hand in our trials and believe that God can grow us through our tribulations into renewed purpose, then we most likely will deduce God has abandoned us and does not protect us. While the blame for our struggles does not rest at God’s feet, the way beyond them does rest in God’s Hand.
Thus, next time your world seems bleak and you feel lost, alone and defeated, let your doubts and fears be washed away by believing and proclaiming: “You, Lord, are all I have, and You give me all I need; my future is in Your Hands.” Psalm 16:5 (GNT)
Uplifted in a Broken Down World 