The Hand of God
God’s handiwork is seen and experienced everywhere. He has everything thought out, from the orbiting planets, to the rising and falling of nations, to the paths each of us will journey on. As His children, this is especially good news! Because it means that through our obedience to the voice of His Holy Spirit and the path He has set before us, His perfect plan will be manifest in us!
Join us as we discover how our Good God has every detail laid out, and how, by following Him, everything we need to answer our call is provided!
Our God is in the Details
We have all had days, weeks, or even months where nothing seems to go the way we plan. We trust God, but after the fourth, or maybe fifth ‘happenstance’, we are left questioning things…
- Did God really want us to do this
- Should we have done things differently
- Did we do something wrong
- Does God care
On and on these thoughts lead us away from trust and God’s perfect plans, yet He still sticks with us. Even if we complain. Even if we step off His path for us…
He stays with us, calling us back to the path He has laid before us. To trust in Him. And when we accept His offer to return to Him, something wonderful happens. Our vision is restored and suddenly we recognize the perfect orchestration of our God!
Over the days, weeks, or months where nothing seemed to go right… Where we complained, questioned, or even doubted our God… He was doing wonderful things! Orchestrated down to the microsecond, and infinitely for our good…
We may not always see the whole picture, but God does. His Hand is in every moment of our lives, because He loves us! Down to the tiniest detail He plans things not only for His Kingdom’s good, but for ours! Often incorporating things we ourselves would never have thought of… and might miss seeing if our eyes are not fixed on Him.
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”—Matthew 11:29-30
At times, our Father God might weave together timelines so intricately, that no amount of planning on our part could compare. During other times, He might protect us from dangers no one could see coming. While other times, He does incomprehensible details of love, not for any grandiose purpose, but just to show us that He loves and cares for us!
Our God is in the details. His Hand is found in every moment of our lives.
“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
—Jeremiah 33:3
Open Our Hearts in Expectation and Anticipation
Our God is always moving, always working. He knew before He formed the earth all that would happen, and He knew before each of us was born what we were created for!
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”—Jeremiah 1:5
“just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”—Ephesians 1:4-6
Our Father foreknew us before the foundation of the world. Not only that, but He saw every detail of our likes and dislikes. He knew of the good and not so good that we would do, of every hair on the top of our heads, and every laugh of ours that He would hear. He saw all that and decided that He desired us to be a part of His creation… one He might call a child of God, made in His image!
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”—1 John 3:1
“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? …”—Malachi 2:10
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”—Genesis 1:27
Even should our God have done nothing beyond creating us, that would have been enough. But He desired to bless us. To create us in His image. To call us sons and daughters. Yet, His goodness does not stop there! He speaks to us. He guides our steps. He offers us eternal life. He gives us every good and perfect gift. Even beyond what we ask or think! No love is greater than His for us…
And because of all this, we can expect every good and perfect gift written in our books. Yes, we have to have faith in God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to access some. And faith without works is lifeless. But God desires to shower us with blessings, just as a father desires to bless his children, or a bridegroom his bride.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”—Jeremiah 29:11
“…as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”—Isaiah 62:5
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”—Matthew 7:11
Knowing these things, we should walk in joy! Expecting every good and perfect gift by the love of our God and the Blood of our Messiah. Nothing we could ever do could earn us these blessings from above, or our inheritance as His children… it is only the unconditional love of our perfect God that allows us to walk in anticipation. Anticipation not only for those physical gifts which God bestows on us, but for the spiritual gifts. Anticipation and expectation that God will do amazing and wonderful things in us, through us, and around us!
Do Not Take Without Giving
Our perfect God desires to bless us abundantly. Our loving Father showers us with His unending love. Our bridegroom speaks of His plans, readying us for a future with Him that is beyond anything we could ask or think. He does so much for us, it is time for us bless Him in return. Bless Him with our tithes and offerings. With our time and tasks. With our prayers and thanksgiving. With our songs of praise and worship…
He deserves all these and more! He wants our attention, He loves to spend time with us. He is greatly pleased when we do things according to His Word and ways. His heart desires to be known by us, to speak of hidden things…
Hearing this we ought to run to our Savior and God. We ought to shower Him with praise and seek His face continually…
Yet, even in the midst of times when we did not draw near to Him, God still blessed us. He protected and provided…
Often we take gifts from Him without even realizing it, or thanking Him. They are so numerous that no one could understand them all. However, each deserves thanks. Our God deserves all of our love and devotion. The time has come to give Him gifts of thanks. To love Him and be thankful enough to give to Him… like a child holding up their ‘masterpiece’ as a gift, or giving the prettiest cookie to the one who made it.
To those around us our gifts to God might not seem like much, but to Him, they are precious! They are of greater price than any jewel or palace of gold!
“But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written:
‘He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever.’
Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”—2 Corinthians 9:6-15