There are so many times that life
simply does not make sense.
Why did that happen?
Why did God let that happen?
That's not what I wanted.
That wasn't my will for this situation.
Well you see, here we have the crossroads.
The crossroads, an intersection of
what I want,
what I will, what I think is best
versus God's absolute will
for my life and for this world.
Maybe a good place for us to go back to
is to the Garden of Gethsemane.
To Jesus, himself.
Do you know the prayer that he had there?
Beautiful prayer. He's praying about what he's about to do.
To die for the world,
to take away all of our sins, to save us.
And he has this prayer to his Heavenly Father and he adds this phrase.
So important.
You see, perfect
trust in God means perfect trust
in his will, in his plan
and in his love for our lives.
That's why Jesus, himself, taught us
in his prayer, in the Lord's Prayer, to say,
Part of being a believer is trusting that God does, in fact,
know what's best for our lives.
And that, as the Bible says,
And that's his will.
So, perhaps, you can picture in your mind,
like, an area rug in your living room.
Do you ever look at the bottom of that?
And I'm not talking of all the dust bunnies that you sweep underneath the carpet.
You look at the bottom and it's actually kind of ugly.
I mean, there's a reason why we put it that side down.
There's all these strings and strands that are sticking out all over the place.
And they're intertwined and
you look at it, you really can't even make out what the actual
pattern of that carpet or rug is.
But
if you're looking from the top down,
you can see the design.
You see how it all weaves together.
How it all fits.
You understand the pattern,
this beautiful design that the craftsmen put together.
This is the way it is with God in our lives.
Sometimes our life is like looking at the bottom side of that carpet.
It's so confusing.
And it doesn't seem to make sense.
We don't get how it all fits together.
But remember that
God is in Heaven looking down at everything.
He sees the past.
He sees the future.
Of course, sees us in the present.
And in all that he is doing,
he is working and weaving everything
in our lives to make this beautiful picture.
The story of me.
As God is leading me on
toward a life and relationship with him.
This is maybe a good place for us
to wrap up this week about God's will as we return
to this main concept.
What is his ultimate will?
To be in a relationship with me.
And with you.
His ultimate will is to have you
with him in Heaven.
And so God is going to work all things in your life.
Even if you don't understand it.
Even if you don't get it or it doesn't make sense
or it even seems bad.
You can trust God's absolute will of love.
To work and orchestrate all things
together according to his good purpose.
To bring you to that ultimate, final goal.
The beautiful picture
of life everlasting with him.
And we can thank God every day.
That is his will for my life and yours.
We have so many struggles in this life.
Have you had a time where you went through the fire
but you came out on the other side stronger?
That God used something to bring you closer to him?
Encourage us.
Share that story in the comments below
to talk about how God worked out his will for your good.
And thanks so much for joining us this week.
A tough week talking about God's will in our lives.
But glad you joined us and have a great and blessed weekend.