Have you zig zagged recently? I know that I sure have!
The last two weeks were spent buying a wedding dress and planning wedding decorations, then walking through pre-op procedures and the subsequent cancer surgery with the same child…missing flights, changing travel plans, and sleeping in five different hotel beds in twelve nights. Life has been crazy!
It also has been a time of ministering to pastors and their wives… praying with young adults… focusing on my marriage… missing my kids.
Just one zig and one zag after another…
Sometimes, the zigs and zags make me feel vulnerable and out of balance.
Sometimes, the zigs and zags are draining and defeating.
Sometimes, the zigs and zags are energizing and encouraging.
But always, the zigs and zags bring me back to one simple responsibility. The zigs and zags of my life (and sometimes, my days, hours, and minutes) remind me that in all circumstances, my responsibility is to bring glory to God. (I Corinthians 10:31)
I wish that I could find an escape clause in scripture. I wish there was a loophole that allowed me the freedom to focus on self, wallow in self-pity, and basically cut myself a break, but I can’t find one.
No, in all things I am to be thankful and to give the praise to God.
Sometimes, that seems impossible.
I’ve had loved ones lose children… How do they praise God?
I’ve had friends experience relational betrayal of the worst possible type… How can they be thankful?
I’ve had friends floored by something as simple as a missed flight or an overdue bill… How do they turn the focus off of themselves and on to Christ?
I think the answer is found in the first foundational truth about zig zags.
We need to realize, internalize, and continual remind ourselves that:
God knows stuff we don’t know!
It sounds so simple, but realizing this one foundational truth will help us to take our eyes off of the blinding circumstances we face, and to instead, focus our hearts and thoughts on the trustworthiness of God.
God knows when a cancer diagnosis is the exact trial to turn a questioning heart back to Him.
God knows when a missed trip means life and ministry for one man, at the same time meaning death and eternity for another.
God knows where the money is coming from, when the illness will end, and how beauty can come from ashes.
God knows stuff I don’t know!
Aren’t you glad? Honestly, isn’t that a comfort to your heart? I think that if we knew the answer to all of the “what if’s” that we face, we’d be scared to get out of bed in the morning! The overwhelming nature of life would paralyze and cripple us.
We’re not the only one’s who have wondered why, you know. When God led the Israelites out of Egypt to begin their journey to the Promised Land, I guarantee you that there were some major questions floating through that throng.
“Why are we going this direction?”
“What will we eat?”
“How will we escape Pharoah?”
“Isn’t the Red Sea in front of us?”
“When will we get to the Promised Land?”
“Where is Moses taking us?”
“Who’s In Charge Here, Anyway!!!?”
Can’t you feel their confusion? Their frustration with circumstances that just didn’t seem to make sense? Their fear of the unknown?
Do you remember what happened? God took care of them. God fed them. God led them with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God destroyed Pharoah and his entire army.
God was in charge all along.
God is in charge of your zig zags, also. He will protect you and provide for you. He cares passionately about you in each and every moment of each and every zig zag.
God knows where the zig begins and the zag continues, because God knows stuff we don’t know!
Can you trust Him to manage all of that unknown stuff? Can you take your eyes of the zig zagging circumstances? Can you focus instead on bringing glory to Him and trusting Him to carry you safely through the zig zags of daily life?
Can you believe that even though you can’t see it…
God knows stuff that you don’t know!
Remember, whether we zig or we zag… We must do the zig zag to the glory of God!
God bless,
Megan
PS. Thank you for your faithful prayers for our Molly! She is recovering well and the prognosis is good that she should remain cancer-free. God is good…ALL THE TIME!
Megan Scheibner 