The Christmas tree is back in the storage bag, the wreath is off the front door, the decorations are packed in the attic, the children are back in school and we are into a New Year—2018! It is amazing how quickly we shift gears from cleaning, decorating, shopping and wrapping gifts to the days and months that lie ahead of us in the coming year.
Every Christmas, I receive a new calendar. In the week prior to New Year’s, I begin to fill in the blank squares with birthday reminders, doctor appointments, meetings, trips and personal goals for home and ministry. My once empty calendar fills up quickly with commitments and responsibilities, all written in ink, as if they were set in stone and not destined to change or be altered by life’s unexpected circumstances.
On each daily square, I record the events I know are ahead of me. But, what about the events I know nothing about? Totally unforeseen events will come along and throw our lives into chaos and disrupt the order created by our calendar—such as deaths, weddings, a baby’s birth, illnesses, tragedies, a divorce or the totally unforeseen.
We live by our calendars, relying upon the structure and order they bring to our lives. We leave little to no room for the unforeseen events or the unexpected circumstances. Those surprises that arrive with such an intensity that we, and our calendars, are often thrown off balance and out of kilter.
God must get a chuckle out of the orderly life we create in our calendars. I am sure He is thinking, “You would do well to write in pencil because I am going to have a few surprises ahead for you in the coming year—those surprises unforeseen, yet divine in purpose.”
When our lives and calendars are thrown off by an unforeseen event or unexpected circumstance, it is often hard to see His divine purpose. I have a friend who did not foresee her breast cancer of years past returning in her hips and legs. I am certain that she is struggling to see the divine purpose in her recent diagnosis. I understand her struggle to see the divine. I myself have been there!
In the past several years, there have been times when I struggled to see His divine purpose and struggled to believe Paul’s words in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (NLT).
I have heard many pastors over the years say that you should never read Romans 8:28 without also reading verses 29 and 30. So, in the context of God’s divine purpose through hardship let’s consider these verses, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory” (NLT).
If you are in the midst of an unexpected circumstance, one not on your calendar, I am sure you are thinking what I have thought many times, “Lord, couldn’t you have chosen someone else for this assignment? Do I have to be the one called to suffer like this when everyone around me is getting to enjoy their lives? Seriously, this is a privilege! It looks more like an interruption. It’s certainly not the way I thought my life would be.”
Over these years, God has shown me that often His divine purpose for us, as His children, comes wrapped in hardship and unforeseen events. Only He knows what is good for us and what His divine purpose is for our lives. No matter how hopeless our situation seems to us, God promises in Romans 8:28 to work it all together for our good. The problem is that we think we know what is good for us—but only God knows the eternal good He desires to work in and through our lives.
I have come to believe, embrace and even see that Romans 8:28 is true and that God is working all the painful circumstances of my life together for my good and ultimately His glory. I have come to accept that He has chosen me to walk this road so that I might ultimately be like Him and reflect His glory to a lost world. And lastly, I have come to understand that when writing in my calendar to always use a #2 erasable pencil!
Their faith in God does not waiver in pain and persecution because they know God is with them. (NLT Parallel Study Bible)
dianne