God Is In Charge

We’ve often heard it said that “God is in charge”.  Do we really understand what that means?  The Word of God tells us in Romans 8: 28, that God turns all things to the good of those who love Him..  If we love God, then we will want to please Him more than anything or anyone else in this world – even if it means to our discomfort.  As long as we trust God and put Him in charge, we’ll be amazed at how He works.

I am from the parish of St. Francis of Assisi in Belmont, and on Sunday we had a luncheon to help raise funds to renovate our church that is in urgent need of repairs.  I don’t like being late and I don’t like to hustle.  So I would normally like to give myself enough time to reach on time and in a relaxed state of mind.  On Sundays, we – my wife and I – would do all the cooking for the week.  All that being said, we were running late.  So I teased my wife telling her that soon we’d be known as the “Late Phillips.”

We were supposed to arrive at the function at 12 noon.  We left home at about 12:45pm. I picked up my sister and nieces and we arrived at the place at just about 1:00pm.  Now part of our music ministry had to perform at the luncheon, so I was a little anxious about being late.  When we got to the venue, there were cars all over the place.  It was well patronized – thank God!  I was about to park at one place but felt that I may have caused a bit of an obstruction.  So I drove past it, down to a dead end area that was completely filled.   I had to turn around and come back out.  I asked the occupants of my car if they wanted to come out while I went to find a park.  My sisters and nieces opted to come out but my wife chose to stay with me.  Eventually we found a place to park.  I took out my guitar and my wife and I started walking towards the building.  We weren’t the only ones arriving at that time.  There were some people in front of us, one of whom was a little old lady.  As she got up to the last step – I believe – to our surprise, the little old lady fell back and in a reflex reaction, Paulette and I caught her, and helped her up the steps. The way she fell was quite awkward and it would have been difficult for one person to catch her fall.   Hmm.

Now why did I go into all that detail just to tell you that my wife Paulette and I helped an old lady?  Well honestly, I did  not realize what had happened until I was walking towards the stage to set up my guitar. It was then that God opened my eyes to the wonder of His being in that situation.  You see, there was no one else behind the little old lady but Paulette and I.  If we were not there, she was going to fall on her back, down concrete steps.  That would have been a disaster for that poor lady and for the parish of St Francis Belmont. Now, am I – as the young people would or used to say – am I “biggin up” my wife and myself?  Absolutely not!  I am “biggin up” GOD who orchestrated everything so that Paulette and I could have been there to catch that lady’s fall.  When it all hit me, I was completely WOWed! From the time He woke us up that Sunday morning, God was in charge, and He orchestrated every thing down to the parking spot we chose, just to take care of one of His own. God is in charge!

What is the lesson learnt here?  First of all, I must say that saying that God is in charge, is not meant to be a copout at all.  It is a truth that ties in directly with Romans 8: 28.  God can make a way out of no-way; God can make a way in the desert; God can write straight on crooked lines. God is in charge! There is a song that Donnie Mc Clurkin sang called Stand, and in it, he sings, “after you’ve done all you can, you just stand.” Stand and applaud the Glory of God. Stand and look on in awe at what He is doing or is about to do. Sometimes we fret about things that we have little or no control over, when we should be asking God, “Lord what do you want of me? I give myself away to you so you can use me.

St Paul in his letter to the Colossians – chapter 3, verse 23 implores us to put our whole hearts in what ever we are called to do, and to do it for the Glory of God. After we’ve done this, all we need to do is trust totally and completely that our loving and merciful God is in charge, and not only does He know what is best for us, He desires the best for us as well.  So you’ve worked really hard at the office, but you did not get the promotion you were hoping for; God is in charge and He knows what is best for you.  You tried really hard to make it to the function on time but you still ran in late – like I did. No worries.  God is in charge.  If He delayed you, it must be for a good reason.  This is a big  one with many people – you met someone that you were really hoping would be the one for you to grow old with, but in spite of how hard you tried, things just did not work out.  Bless the Lord! God is in charge.  He wants what is best for you.  And I can go on and on with countless examples of how God can turn something that seems to be bad into good, but I think you get the picture.

So in summary; God loves you dearly; so much more than anyone ever could in a million lifetimes. He knows and wants what is best for you.  Try to love Him in return.  Trust Him. Whatever you do; whatever is required of you, always do it with all your skill and to the glory of God, then praise His Wonderful Name, no matter the outcome.  He always has you in mind.  You are the apple of His eye and you are inscribed in the palm of His hand. God Loves You! He really, really Loves You.

PS:  I forgot to mention that as things turned out, we were right on time for our performance.

God Bless You.