God Knows Best
Romans 11:34
For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?
The Apostle Paul clearly states that the wisdom of God is immeasurable, unsearchable, and untouchable. The truth is we think God needs our insight—that He could use our help. We internally conclude things like, “Lord, I wouldn’t do that if I were You!” Or “Lord, You seem to have forgotten some of the details!” We seem to forget that God doesn’t take His cues from us. We aren’t the prompter who cues Him onstage when we think He’s forgotten His lines.
Missionary Gracia Burnham and her husband Martin were held captive by terrorists in the Philippines for more than a year. During their rescue, he was tragically killed in the crossfire. When Gracia was later interviewed about the tragedy, she said:
I used to have this concept of what God is like, and how life’s supposed to be because of that. But out in the jungle, I learned I don’t know as much about God as I thought I did. What I do know for certain now is this—God is God and I am not. The world is in a mess because of sinful man, not God—and awful things may happen to me, but God does what is right.
William Carey, another missionary who demonstrated this attitude of trust in the wisdom of God, left England in 1793 and served for forty years in India, never returning home again. Twenty years into his ministry, a fire broke out at Carey’s office, destroying all the manuscripts of Bible translations that Carey was attempting to complete. After the disaster, Carey wrote these words to his pastor-friend Andrew Murray in England:
To me, the consideration of God’s sovereignty and wisdom have been supporting . . . I endeavored to improve our affliction last Lord’s Day, by reading from Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” I meditated on two ideas: God has a sovereign right to do as He pleases, and I am to acquiesce in whatever God does with me and to me.
We don’t have to be missionaries overseas to cultivate this kind of trust in God’s wisdom or to determine our own focus and trust in this truth; whatever He does is right and ultimately for our good.