A Wonderful Life

If someone shared the Gospel with you in the last 30 years it may have been summed up in the phrase, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”

I think there is a problem with this statement.

The problem is not that it is not true.  God does love you.  He does have a plan and intention for your life.  It is wonderful.

The problem is in how we hear the word wonderful. Most of us, if we are honest with ourselves, want to believe that “wonderful” means that we will never experience hardship.  We will never know what it means to be attacked or maligned, our health will be good, our finances will be stable, and our relationships will not be strained. We also want to believe that it means that we will be attractive to others.  We will be safe and secure.  Death, for anyone we love including ourselves, will only come after a long life.  We will have abundance, and we will succeed at everything we do.

I wonder how this view of wonderful would have squared with Joseph, who found himself in the bottom of a well, sold into slavery at the hands of his brothers, and eventually rotting in Pharaoh‘s jail.

I wonder if this definition would have rung true with Ruth, who watched all the men of her family die, followed her mother-in-law into a foreign land, leaving her biological family behind, and found herself, with the rest of the poor and destitute, gleaning at the edge of a field.

I wonder how wonderful it felt for David as he sat in the back of a cold, dark, damp cave, hiding from the king he had faithfully served and now was trying to kill him.  I wonder if living in the land of his enemies was part of his vision of a wonderful plan, or if he ever dreamed God’s intention would put him in a position of acting like a mad man to save his life.

I wonder if Daniel was thinking how wonderful life was as he watched his country be overrun by a foreign power, and was hauled off to strange capital, given a new name and indoctrinated into another culture.  Was “wonderful’ what he was thinking when the door was shut behind him and standing in front of him was a bunch of hungry lions?

I wonder if the disciples, when they chose to follow Jesus had  imagined that they would be accused of being drunk, rejected, and scorned.  In their definition of wonderful, did they include beating, flogging, stoning, imprisonment, beheading, and crucifixion? 

I do not think they did, but if we could sit down and talk to the disciples, or any one of these heroes of the faith, I think they would tell you that God’s plan was indeed wonderful, and not because their suffering often led to significant moments in the unveiling of God’s big story.

I think they would tell you it was wonderful because of what they learned as they found themselves in these situations where they had to surrender their will, desires, security, reputation, and future.  They discovered that God grace is sufficient and He is able to sustain, even in the hardest circumstance.  

 As they allowed their dreams to die and embraced His will, they discovered how narrow their vision was and how vast the wisdom of God.  They found that God was more concerned about the refining of their heart and the conforming of their character, than He was about their circumstances.  They discovered that circumstances do not define who they are or even determine their ability to experience peace and joy.  Their hearts became like God’s hearts, and eventually they were able to see what God was doing through it all, if not in this life, in the next.

This was truly wonderful, for through their stories God was writing a story of love, redemption and reconciliation.

What was required for these people to enter into this wonderful plan?  They had to abandon any hope that they had placed in their circumstances and choose to trust God knows what He is doing, even when their situation seemed unfair, unloving, and even harsh. 

They had to decide that it was more important to abandon their lives to the will of God, than it was to try to manipulate and control their situation in order to keep from experiencing pain.

In the loneliness of the well, field, cave, den, or prison they had to believe with their entire being that they were not alone, and had not been forgotten.

What enabled them to do these things?  It was not their circumstance, and it was not the strength of their own character.  What allowed them to develop the capacity to trust God for their future, even when it seemed they would not have one, was their experiential knowledge of the One in whom they would place their trust. 

These people had experienced God as He spoke to them in their dreams. They had seen Him in the people with whom they lived. They experienced His protection while tending sheep.  They saw God keep them safe, even when their country was overthrown. They saw him heal the afflicted, command the wind and the waves, and discern the hearts of men.  They witnessed death and then resurrection. 

In short, they experience, remembered, and then trusted in the character and nature of God, even when they could not discern what He was doing. 

It was not about their circumstances.  It was not about who they were.  It was all about who He is. This realization, and the circumstances that brings you to it, is a powerful place to find yourself.

I know people who are living in this place right now.  I know a woman who is fighting a very aggressive form of cancer that has disfigured her face.  I know a family who has to make very hard decisions regarding treatment for their daughter who has a disease that has yet to be fully diagnosed.  I know men who do not have jobs that allow them to provide for their families. I know parents whose children struggle with drugs.  I know spouses who have watched their partner walk away.  I know families who struggle to make their rent, and I know people who have had their reputation drug through the mud.

None of these circumstances are what I would call wonderful, but that does not mean that they will not be redeemed and become part of God’s grand story of love, redemption and restoration. It does not mean that they will not lead to something wonderful.

In order for that to happen, however, a simple but very hard move will have to be made.  All of these people will have to abandon their hope in their circumstance, remember their experience of God in the past, yield themselves to God’s will present, and trust that He knows what He is doing, even if they cannot see or understand it. 

It is in this place that one discovers what “wonderful” really means.  The wonderfulness of a life that is not blown about by circumstances, but is rooted and grounded in the reality of a God who loves us enough to pry our heart away from being dependent on our circumstances for our well-being, in order to allow us to learn what it is to find our life in Him. Rich, full, abundant life, even when it seems we have nothing.

It is then that people will say about us, “There is a man or women after God’s own heart.”  We will be able to say, “In Him will I trust,” and like the apostle Paul we will be able to declare with confidence, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

To be able to say this, and have the reality of it inform our entire life, truly is wonderful.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James 1:2-4

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. – Psalm 28:7