When God's Ways Make No Sense by Dr. Larry Crabb

Author:Dr. Larry Crabb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Living;Trust in God—Christianity;Suffering—Religious aspects—Christianity;REL012120;REL012000
ISBN: 9781493412655
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2018-04-30T00:00:00+00:00

Joining the Larger Story

The more I delight in the Lord, the more I will desire to know God above all other goods, and I will trust that His indescribable ways are good. But a definite work of God’s Spirit is needed to get in touch with my longing to know God and to gladly join the story He is telling. I can’t make that happen. I can only open myself to His work and seek it with all my heart.

Christian friends, though well-meaning, too often interfere with the Spirit’s work. Friends, pastors, and counselors who have bought into the lie of counterfeit Christianity offer groundless encouragement that builds a crust of false hope around our souls. That lie prevents us from depending on the deep work God longs to do in our lives. The lie feels good. Either your insurance will be restored or God will provide you with a better, even less expensive policy. Trust God. He “is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (ESV).

And He is. Those words are in the Bible, in Ephesians 3:20. Again, our entitled spirit interprets the verse to support the lie we want to believe. But Paul is not telling us that God will renew our circumstances to make us comfortable. He is celebrating the truth that God is able to do far more good than our corrupted thoughts lead us to want from Him. And the “power at work within us” (notice not “the power at work in our circumstances”) transforms us “into a new person” by changing the way we think (Rom. 12:2). As new persons in Christ, we tremble over problems that may not be solved, but we trust that God is doing what our heart most longs for Him to do—to draw us more deeply into His heart.

Is God good? Is He in control? Yes to both questions. It’s good news. Because of the finished work of Christ and through the power of the Spirit within us, God promises to change our thoughts and ways, which are far beneath His thoughts and ways. With changed thoughts and trusting ways, we become visible as new persons whether life is working well for us or not. We become “little Christs” (to borrow a term coined by C. S. Lewis) who, like Christ, live to advance God’s larger story at any cost to ourselves.

Good news? Not to folks whose thoughts and ways remain unenlightened. There are Christians who cheerfully assume that on a rainy day God can be trusted to provide a parking space near the shopping mall’s entrance. Can He? Of course. Does He? It seems so, sometimes. But He has not promised to grant that blessing. The way God thinks and the way He uses His power hint at a higher purpose than keeping a shopper dry.

When a convenient spot does become available to a Christian, can we be certain God arranged it? Do I dishonor

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