Trust

God's sovereignty. 

It creates complicated questions.

The book of Hebrews asks questions of pain, telling us it is not God's displeasure.

In the book of Job, Job's friends cannot reconcile God's goodness with God's sovereignty unless Job has been wicked.

How many have been lost in this place of struggle?

Have cried out, burdened and broken, why, God? If You are sovereign, why? If You are good, why?

It can be so hard to reconcile God's goodness to our circumstances of pain. Knowing He is in control can feel like He is cruel, causing our suffering.

And yet God's sovereignty is our place of peace. 

Because if He is good, if He is loving, if He treasures us like a Father treasures his child, if He is working for our good, then every pain which befalls us, every season of suffering, every moment of being stretched and pulled thin is a part of God's redemptive purposes. He is not only working for our good but for the good of the world. And though our present circumstances seem contradictory, though evil seems inescapable, God's hand means that God's good is the ultimate end. That evil will not persist. That pain will serve a better purpose. 

That doesn't mean these moments aren't still hard. God's sovereignty can be a great comfort when moments are hard, but there are many questions in our lives where the whys are still uncovered. That we still have to wrestle through. 

And yet, I see God's sovereignty as a small whisper, saying "trust." Trust me. Trust my story. Trust my plan. Trust my goodness. Trust.

God's sovereignty is a big question for many unbelievers, and this answer doesn't satisfy. Why would it? How can we ask those who do not know God to trust in His character? They do not know His character. They do not know His love. They do not know His goodness. Those all have to be discovered before trust can be called upon.

But in relationship? 

But for those who know His voice, His heart, His character?

Sovereignty is that whisper of trust. That reminder that He will always be who He says He is. That He will always do what He says He'll do. That He is faithful and good and just and merciful and in control.

Like Joseph being sold into slavery, these moments of tension ask us to trust God when our circumstances don't look like Him. To trust the ultimate story still will be. To trust that our pain will not be meaningless.

The story may be long, the pain might not go away, we may not receive answers, but trust. Trust in Him. Our Father is working. He is moving for our good. His purposes are redemptive. Trust. We will not be put to shame.