He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate. Psalm 111:4
What is caused, and what we deem good gifts, is observed in the character of the sender. In his guidance, we are able to trust the Lord will not cut corners as sometimes a mediocre homebuilder might do only to end up with shoddy construction, cracks in the foundation, and long-term problems throughout the structure. God is different. He is the founder of good things made of the highest quality for our best interest. He is truthful, and consistent.
…for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. Psalm 50:10
Though we sin and mess things up along the way with wrong choices, or others sin and affect us negatively, the Lord is not limited in doing good in our lives because of our failures or lack of foresight. The difference between God causing our steps to be placed, and the world offering guidance and other needs, as good as people may be, is God’s goodness and willingness to provide is out of his own design and plan.
The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps. Psalm 85:12-13
The Lord will indeed give what is good. “Will” is a term expressing the inevitable rather than a guess. It is a term of certainty. These verses in Psalm 85 tell us that what God does, even in what He allows among events we do not understand, is always working for our advantage, causing our lives to move toward good results. His steps are carried out with His own righteousness going before Him, meeting our needs with a good result and not a thoughtless answer that looks as if our prayers were not heard clearly. This is His nature. His own good steps, ones that are morally right and beneficial, are how our lives are prepared to walk with Him – not alone, but with.
Here are just some examples in God’s Word about His intervening in otherwise impossible situations, causing actions to take place:
So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Genesis 2:21
May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem. I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence. Ezra 6:12
Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, Daniel 1:9
but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. Acts 10:40
Why, then, would God cause events to happen when we have choices? What does it mean when we read in the Bible about God moving in a situation? I’ve noticed through the years in seeking God about decisions or needs, especially the most important things requiring many years of waiting, I look back and see, that even what I thought was my praying big, it was actually small compared to the plans God had for what I was asking. Where I even trusted for better than I imagined, I could see how my prayers were so small. God ended up giving me an extra-large and larger in the most important things to me. I learned to ask and not stop asking. I learned and continue learning how the Lord can take my prayers, questions, fears, impatience, stumbling and inability. I have only come to see more of God’s faithfulness over time regarding many needs, both personal and for others. I write about this frequently because I am continually in awe over how God pulls off the impossible especially when His people keep praying even through the worst situations. Things that burden me and that I find myself praying about often are people who feel hopeless and need a restored life Jesus offers; my own or the health needs of others; broken homes; the lack of civility in our nation and around the world; the confused living in darkness and those who do not see the value of human life; the need for our elected or appointed leaders and our pastors to have wisdom as they serve, just to name a few.
But one thing God has taught me about praying through situations over long periods of time, even decades, is to persevere and continue seeking until the burden to pray over a matter clears. If something sticks with you, keep it in prayer even if it seems more comfortable to close off that prayer or to agree with your own doubts that God must have closed a door because it seems nothing is moving. A long delay is not necessarily a “no” from God. Our long, even years long, of waiting time is a flash to our Savior. To us a day can seem like forever. But a decade to God is like a split second.
Then when the time comes and a door seems to be opening, and we sense direction to move forward, we wonder if our next steps will be the right ones. People let us down so we believe God will too. Are we making a mistake? What if something goes wrong? We are called tolearn He is the one who leads, who looks ahead and is in need of nothing. He sees all we are worried about before opening the doors established for us to go through. We are only required to trust that each step will be filled through God’s good, trustworthy instructions.
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9
In a sinful world filled with human beings failing in some way continually, sometimes minor, other times major, yet with our best efforts to do right, it is God who leads those who choose to seek His purpose in all matters. He shows how He works to guide people, always with us as we look to Him to be our most important source of direction:
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
God did not say He would do equal to what we ask of Him to do for us. He said He would do more than we asked or imagined, or even what others could imagine He could or would do for us as a result of our praying. These verses in Ephesians have come to be some of my favorite scriptures:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
We might look around with questions because other people are often in the mix. But we are to look above anyone else and see God only as our savior through Christ’s work on the cross. We have moments of doubt or confusion, but we refocus. We are to ask Him what He wants to do. Then He will work out difficulties others or we could never manage on our own.
In this way, we will serve people, and worship God only. We are only able to love and serve others when we are placing our complete attention on God for instructions about what to do next. Otherwise, if we do not, we are tempted to fear what others might whisper about our circumstances, even and sometimes especially if we have requested prayer from them about a sensitive topic. Others are well-meaning, but only God truly knows the way He has personally set up for us to take. It ultimately is His responsibility to see solutions to our needs through to fruition. He is only asking that we place our complete trust in Him and not become distracted by what time it is, what the current trends are, who is doing or saying what.
We must remember that God always has a plan and is always at work –not with a human plan that could fail. His plans are always good, and we must even remind ourselves of this by speaking these truths out loud, strengthening our faith to ourselves and before our Lord that we know He is answering our prayers, that we know He is in total control, with power and willingness to do good to us in ways neither we nor others can fully see with limited human insight. It is God who causes. It is God who is able. And it is God who will act.
