Finding God's Will by Gregg Matte

Author:Gregg Matte [Matte, Gregg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RELIGION / Christian Life / Spiritual Growth, God—Will, Providence and government of God—Christianity, REL012120
ISBN: 9781441224149
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2018-06-27T00:00:00+00:00

You’re Part of a Bigger Story

You may know God, and believe you know God’s will, but that knowledge could very well place you in opposition to those who do not share it. You have to understand in such times that you are part of a bigger story, a narrative that is still being written. Your circumstances may not immediately improve (or might even worsen) as a result of your knowing, but you are in a far better position than you might think. Why? Because knowing God is the purpose of life. Knowing His will is not our primary mission. Our primary mission is to know the God of God’s will. Opposition might be a part of the story—but it is never the full story. There’s always more.

Some time ago, my grandfather died. I’ve officiated at many funerals, but doing his was tough. I cried through the whole thing. I guess I should have been “more professional” but I couldn’t. I told my wife afterward how strange it seemed to me that my grandparents’ house that I’d known so well through holidays and visits was now empty. I knew the contours of that house, its smells and sounds. I knew the bedroom I slept in when we visited, and how we would close the door to the hallway at night so that air from the window unit air conditioner would flow into the bedrooms, but not the rest of the house. I can feel that room—its cool air and soft sheets . . . but I can’t go there anymore.

I can close my eyes and see my grandmother’s kitchen. Everything in it was pink. No kidding: pink stove, pink refrigerator, pink walls and counters. I would sit at that counter and could even walk underneath it standing up as a kid. In the mornings, she would make eggs, and I’d say, “Granny, Louisiana chickens must be different because these eggs are awesome—they’re the best in the world.” And she would laugh and say “Gregg, Louisiana chickens are just the same as Texas chickens—it’s just that I’ve been cooking eggs for 60 years now. That’s why they’re so good.” I couldn’t begin to count the number of eggs I’ve eaten from a plate on that pink counter, all of them delicious.

I can still see the living room where my grandfather would lie on the couch, and we’d listen together to LSU football games on the radio. But that house is cleaned out now. Someone else is mowing the yard that my grandfather tended so carefully; and someone else is eating at that pink counter. Actually, I bet they replaced it with something more hip. It’s not my grandparents’ house anymore. And even though I can still see it in my mind’s eye as it was . . . nothing is the same.

When I think about the two of them and that little house in Louisiana, I see from God’s perspective that their lives in that place were a part of a larger story.

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