This store or that one for groceries? Run that errand today or put it off until tomorrow? Accept this invitation or stay home?
It’s a little freaky how decisions that feel so incredibly inconsequential at the time can sometimes have such a huge impact upon the rest of our lives, for better or worse.
I awoke one day last week mindful and thankful for one of those “little” decisions that brought something very good into my life 44 years ago. In fact, all that goodness was snoring just inches from me on that morning of the anniversary of the day I met my husband.
It was a Friday in April, 1974, I was a junior in high school, and one of my friends mentioned going to a free outdoor rock concert at a nearby college. I was less excited about my other options for the evening, so I went.
No, we weren’t high school honeys out trolling for college guys. Honest. And besides, although this particular college, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, is one of the top engineering schools in the nation, it’s definitely more “Big Bang Theory” than GQ magazine.
My then-shy hubby claims he spotted my smile across the lawn and uncharacteristically came over and struck up a conversation. He was very tall, blonde, and he didn’t seem like a serial killer, so I was interested. All these years later, we’re still together, I still have (almost) all of my original teeth, he’s still tall, (mostly) blonde, and he hasn’t killed me (yet), so yes, going to that concert was a very good decision.
But what if my friend hadn’t known about the concert? What if I’d decided not to go? What if it had rained that night? What if Joe had gone home that weekend?
All the “what ifs” that are part of our stories can make life feel like a terrifyingly random roll of the cosmic dice, but I don’t believe that’s the case. All the time, in, through and in spite of the choices we make, I believe God is working His plan.
Would I have ended up single, married to someone else, or met Joe some other way if I hadn’t gone to that concert? I don’t know, but I do know that as I look back over my life, it sure seems like I see God’s fingerprints all over it, as His hand faithfully got me where He wanted me to be.
“The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps,” the Bible says in Proverbs 16:9. In my life some of those steps have led to “green pastures” and others through “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23), but I take great comfort in the sovereignty of a good God, even when I can’t comprehend His ways.
And although I don’t understand the mysterious, delicate balance between God’s sovereignty and our free will, I know His goal is always to bring us closer to Himself. I also believe there are certain things He’s going to do and make happen in this world, no matter what.
As Psalm 33:11 says, “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.”
Man’s sinful choices broke this present world, but God continues to patiently move forward His plan to redeem all who will accept His invitation, through Jesus Christ, to live in relationship with Him and ultimately dwell forever in a re-created, perfect world.
I’m not at the mercy of karma, fate or luck. I’m in the hands of the God who promises to work all things together for good for those who are His (Romans 8:28). I don’t know about you, but there’s no other place I’d rather be.