God's Guidance Works

GOD’S GUIDANCE WORKS
The Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire
In scorched places, and give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden, and like a
Spring of water whose waters do not fail.
Isaiah 58:11

Isn’t it interesting that we believe God is guiding us as long as we are getting what we want and we’re “living on the mountaintop,” relatively unscathed by the warp and woof of life in the valley below. But we need to understand that the Lord is directing our steps even when it seems things are not going our way. You may be in a stressful situation today. You may be living with a spouse or a child who is difficult to get along with. Or perhaps because of favoritism or politics at the office, you are not being treated fairly, or possibly you are having to work two jobs in order to make ends meet. You may be thinking, This doesn’t seem right. God, I don’t understand it.

The Scripture says, “Since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to figure out everything that happens along the way?” (Prov. 20:24) Friend, you are never going to understand everything you go through in life or why certain things come against you. You simply must learn to trust God anyway. You must learn to keep a good attitude in the midst of the chaos and confusion, knowing that God is still in control.

In your Best Life Now, I told the story of two former college basketball players who were headed to Kenya to work on a missions project back in the late 1990s. But they were delayed and missed their connecting flight. They were extremely disappointed, as the next flight wasn’t for eight or nine hours. They were a bit irritated and said so.

When it finally came time for the next flight to leave, there were no seats available except in first class. The airline seated two big fellows right up at the front of the plane, with plenty of legroom, so they were happy about that. But about midway through that flight, the plane took a nose-dive and started streaking toward the ground at full throttle. People aboard the plane screamed frantically as the flight attendants scrambled to keep the passengers from panicking. They thought for sure they were going to die.

The two big basketball players maintained their wits enough to pray: “God, we really don’t understand this, but please use our lives somehow.”

About that time, they heard some noise that sounded like a struggle in the cockpit. A flight attendant opened the cockpit door, and there was a deranged man- a big man who stood over seven feet tall- attacking the pilots and trying to gain control of the plane. The pilots were desperately trying to stop the madman, but they didn’t have a chance.

When the two basketball players saw what was happening, they wrestled the attacker to the ground and pulled him out of the cockpit. By the time they were able to subdue him, the plane had fallen allt he way from 30,000 feet to less than 4,000 feet. Had the pilots not been able to regain control, within seconds the plane would have crashed, most likely killing everyone aboard and possibly people on the ground.

Sometimes God will put you in an uncomfortable situation so you can help somebody else. God delayed those two young men on purpose. He put them in first class, right up front, so they could help save that entire plane. God knows what He’s doing. He can see the big picture; He can see the future. And He has you exactly where He wants you today. Quit questioning Him and start trusting Him. Just know that God is in control. He has your best interest at heart. Trust Him today to direct your steps, and to cause you to be right where you need to be at just the right time.

TODAY’S PRAYER

THANK YOU, FATHER, THAT EVEN IN THE UNCOMFORTABLE SPOTS IN LIFE, I CAN HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT YOU ARE AWARE OF ME, THAT YOU CARE ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME,AND THAT YOU HAVE A PLAN TO BRING GOOD INTO MY LIFE AND THROUGH MY LIFE AS A RESULT.