“Declaring the end from the beginning…saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” Isaiah 46:10
There is a famous military motto: “No plan of war survives first contact with the enemy.” This holds true in every human conflict because it is impossible to know for certain how one’s enemy will react or what circumstances may intervene to change any planned course of action, but this is not true of God.
I recently heard a story of man who was asked to trade shifts on his job so his co-worker could go to church event the next day. An explosion took place at the factory and the man who had gone to work was killed. Friends of the man who was spared saw this as God’s providence, but what of the man who was killed.? Was God uninvolved on his behalf? Of course, as we look at the verse above, we know this is not the case.
So what explains it?
In a way, trying to explain the unfathomable mind of God with our small minds is pretty fruitless, but we continue to try. In fact, I am going to try right now. I see it this way. God’s view of our lives is not limited in any way. He knows the past, the future, those around us, those coming after us, He knows all things. We don’t. His decisions are made with all the possible information available. We look at life through the wrong end of a telescope and see just a tiny picture of all there is to see. Not so with God. He sees the big picture. His decisions are based on all this world contains.
We see life in big events, both tragic and triumphant, and through those events we try to evaluate the degree of God’s love and power. But life is not just a few major happenings, but thousands and thousands of smaller, every day incidents all in full view of God’s eye. To argue with God’s providence in one instance is to ignore many, many more known and unknown daily doings that have an effect on hundreds of people.
Our lives are a quiet pool being pelted constantly with different sized stones resulting outgoing ripples that affect everyone around us and many others. God’s love and mercy are shown hundreds of times in our lives and others all day long, every day, in every place. There is not a single event that does not have far reaching consequences, including that broken shoe lace I got this morning. God the Master Networker brings all things together, even our free choice, into a world of His good pleasure that in the long run is for our good, as well.
I am reminded of the story of the only survivor of a shipwreck who washed up on a small uninhabited island. He cried out to God to save him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.
Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a rough hut and put his few possessions in it. But then one day, after hunting for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; he was stung with grief. Early the next day, though, a ship drew near the island and rescued him.
“How did you know I was here?” he asked the crew.
“We saw your smoke signal,” they replied.
Though it may not seem so now, your present difficulty may be instrumental to your future happiness. Only God sees the whole picture and can turn flames into a smoke signal.
God does not wonder what the future holds and we can be assured that God does not worry about his purposes coming to fruition. God’s plans are never frustrated, foiled, or even hindered. His word declares His purposes, His designs, and His works. He does not just describe the things that will come to pass, He has declared them and designed them.
His counsel shall stand and he ultimately will overrule wickedness for the good of his people and the glory of His name. His plans are not changed with first contact with the enemy because nothing surprises Him. That is the kind of commander we want to put our faith in, trust our lives to, and follow wherever He might lead.