Accepting God’s will when it doesn’t make sense

Accepting God’s will when it is contrary to what you hoped for is easier said than done! 

How I wish it was easier to accept God’s will. People die every day, and their families are left asking why. Things go wrong in our lives even when we have prayed fervently, and we are left wondering what happened. This issue weighed heavily on my mind this week as I thought about the many things that seemingly go wrong even after people have prayed and trusted God.

The bottom line is – God’s will always prevails.

How, then, do we accept God’s will?

Understand that His will is part of His perfect plan for our lives

Psalm 139 tells us that before we were born, He had planned everything out.

Psalm 139:16 “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (NIV)

This is something I wish I had understood when I was younger. It took a long time to accept that I was going to university to do a course that I had not chosen. It took even longer to accept that I would be there for four years (they turned out to be five). At the time, I had no idea what God’s will was all about. All I knew was that I had to get an education, and that seemed to be the only open door. It was quite a struggle, I can tell you. Interestingly, when I now look back at the five years, I realize that without them I would not be the person that I am today. After I left, it became clear why God wanted me to go there. It was His will.

Accepting that God has everything planned out for us is not easy. It is even harder to accept that for everything to work out well, He has to be in control. I struggle with this because I love to be in control. I like to know what lies around the corner. But I am learning to let God take control because He’s the one with the plan, and His plan is perfect.

Understand that He always has the bigger picture in mind

For someone who is going through grief, pain, anguish, or illness, seeing the bigger picture is not easy. All that matters is the present pain and how to get through it, and because we usually focus on the pain, we get really bitter with God. In short, painful seasons have this way of making us focus on our present circumstances, rather than on God.

There is however one thing we all need to remember. God always has the bigger picture in mind. He sees beyond what we can see. Everything He does points towards this bigger picture. Every little thing He brings into your life and my life is part of that bigger picture.

I often wonder how Job managed to continue trusting in God after he lost everything, including his dignity and health. I am not sure I would even want to hear the Lord’s name mentioned in my presence! He held onto his faith, though, and because he did, we can refer to the book of Job whenever we are discouraged!

Here is one of my favorite verses from this book.

Job 42:2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (NIV)

These words came from Job’s mouth after God had revealed Himself to him. Job now understood what the bigger picture was – it was not about him, but about God. Job then surrendered to God, and guess what – the Lord blessed him even more abundantly than before!

Are you at a place where everything seems to be going wrong, and you wonder what God is up to in your life? Maybe it’s time to surrender to Him and let Him handle things. After all, God has the bigger picture in mind, and what you are going through is only a small part of it. Trust Him.

Understand that God works things out for our good

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (NLT)

This is one lesson that I am still learning to date, even after seeing God work things out for my good many times!

I have a confession. I failed my driving test not once, not twice, but many times! For some reason, I would get to the test centre, and leave having failed the test. This was quite frustrating for me because I had hoped to start driving as early as my older siblings did. God had other plans, though.

I changed driving schools, did the tests, failed, and decided to give the whole thing a break. A couple of years later, a new driving school opened up nearby, and I decided to check it out. There I found an old instructor who listened to all I had to say and simply said, “You can drive, and you will drive!” We started lessons, and I can tell you it was a real learning experience. He made me drive through Nairobi CBD traffic at rush hour, on Juja road competing with Eastleigh matatus, Gikomba, Jogoo Road, and many other crazy places. Every time I would freak out, he would say, “Relax, you can drive”. And drive I did! I learnt more from this old man that I had learnt from all the other instructors I had been through.

Oh – and I passed the test. Yippee!

Where am I going with this? Well, when I was failing the tests, I did not understand why, yet I had been through the entire driving course. But God knew that I was not ready for the road. I had not learnt to drive properly. By the time I was done with the old man, I was ready to hit the road because he had taught me well. God knew what kind of instruction I needed, so He worked things out so that I would get it at the right time and from the right person. Looking back I can confidently say that though the wait was long, it was worth it. God worked out the whole driving scenario for my good, and for His glory.

Friends, we should not be afraid of or averse to God’s will, because He always works things out for our good. As you pray and surrender yourself to His will, therefore, rest in the assurance that He will handle everything according to His plan, and it will work out for your good because you love Him. The key here is surrender – let Him take control of everything because He is a loving, powerful, and all-knowing God. You can trust Him. I can trust Him.