It’s been an overwhelming time for me as of late to take a step back and appreciate the goodness of God.
I know for my own life, that has been something that I have overlooked or taken for granted far too often, even if not intentionally. It can be easy to appreciate God’s faithfulness and goodness when He does “big” stuff for us, right? But what about the “little” things that we don’t even think about?
Each moment we get with our loved ones is a blessing from God. Each day we get with our good health is a blessing. Each time we’re able to wake up and go work a job and help provide for our families is a blessing. And yet, those have been some of the things that most of the time I don’t even think about.
God has done some pretty amazing stuff in the life of my wife and I over the course of the past seven days. We closed on our first house last week after a complicated process where it looked like there was going to be no way to get it done on multiple occasions. And yet He provided for us when it looked like there was no way.
We found out last week that our little dog had a cancerous tumor on her chest that was going to require surgery to try and remove it. She had that surgery today and there were no visible signs of the cancer spreading throughout her body and the tumor was completely removed. We’re still waiting to hear back from the lab results, but today’s portion of that battle could not have gone much better.
I’m so grateful to God for those things. He did not have to provide a way for us to get our house. But He did. He did not have to guide our dog through surgery and come out of things looking great on the other side. But He did.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize more and more that it’s not all about me. God can do great things regardless of anything that I bring to the table. He doesn’t need me in order to do those things. And yet, He also is gracious enough to allow us to be an active part of His plan.
One thing I’ve also come to know is that sometimes it’s really hard to understand what God’s plan is. There are just simply things that we’re not going to understand on this side of heaven. And you know what, that’s OK because He’s God and we’re not.
The comfort from those situations, though, is that God is always in total and complete control. He is working all things together for your good if you’re a believer in Jesus Christ.
I came across a radio program recently that highlighted a pretty good example of God being totally in control that I had previously never considered. In the book of Genesis, Joseph has been sold into slavery and has ended up in prison in Egypt.
“After this, the king of Egypt’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guards in the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guards assigned Joseph to them as their personal attendant, and they were in custody for some time.” – Genesis 40:1-4
This is, at first glance, a seemingly meaningless detail in the story. We don’t know exactly what the cupbearer and baker did to offend Pharaoh, but whatever happened was significant enough to land them in prison with Joseph. While in there, they both have dreams that Joseph is able to correctly interpret through God’s help. That later leads to him interpreting Pharaoh’s dream and becoming basically second in command in all of Egypt.
It was God’s sovereignty that put the cupbearer and baker in prison. If they weren’t in there, Joseph would’ve never interpreted their dreams. If he never interpreted their dreams, he would have never been summoned by Pharaoh to interpret his. And then he would never have risen to power and ultimately have been reunited with his brothers and father.
It’s a simple yet effective reminder that God is always working. Sometimes seemingly meaningless details can be God weaving together a beautiful tapestry.
I hope you will always remember to thank God for what He does in your life on a daily basis. He is so, so good.
The Unshakable Foundation 