Are You Second-Guessing God?
By Cindi McMenamin
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Have you ever second-guessed God, by wondering if He really knew what He was doing?
I remember when my husband applied for what seemed like the perfect job. At the perfect time. With a perfect salary. But when my husband didn’t get the job we thought was so perfect in every way, I became discouraged and began to question God.
I prayed, “Why not, God? This was so perfect for us. We prayed about it. And we
trusted You. Why did you not bless us with this?”
Yet God apparently knew what He was doing. Even though we didn’t. And now when we look back at what we thought was the perfect job at the perfect time, we can see that it wasn’t perfect for him, after all, and it wasn’t the perfect time either. God knew what was coming…and He had something better in mind.
In Isaiah 55, verses 5-8, God told His people that His thoughts were not like their thoughts, and neither were their ways like His. That’s because He knows all things and we don’t. But that passage also says His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, meaning better, and encompassing eternal purposes, while we tend to look at just the temporary.
In the next two verses, God told His people as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there without watering the earth and making it produce and sprout, and providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will His word be which goes out of His mouth; it will not return to Him empty, without accomplishing what He desires, and without succeeding in the purpose for which He sent it.
That passage assures us that God not only knows what’s best for us, but He has His eternal purposes at work in what He allows, as well as what He prevents.
How often do you and I ask God, “Why now? It couldn’t have come at a worse time!” How often do we wonder, Why this? We were faithful and we were hoping for the best! How many times do we say, “Why me? As if I haven’t been through enough already!” We even sometimes offer God our list of reasons why we believe His timing and His choice were not in our best interest.
And yet, God continues to know what He is doing. We cannot second-guess Him. Sometimes He’s protecting us from something we can’t yet—or might not ever—see. Other times He is preparing something even better for us that we have yet to discover. And I believe at all times, as long as we stay surrendered to Him, He is shaping our character and refining us through our circumstances.
Intersecting Life & Faith:
God has reasons far above our own because He is God and we are not. And we are asked to simply trust that…
- There is an occasion for everything and a time for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and that means He didn’t get the timing wrong in the slightest.
- “His work is perfect; all his ways are just” (Deuteronomy 32:4), and He is a God who never makes mistakes.
- He is a God who “does not slumber or sleep” (Psalm 121:3-4), meaning nothing takes Him by surprise.
Can you trust God today instead of second-guessing Him? Can you live with the assurance that He loves you beyond comprehension and that nothing takes Him by surprise and He won’t let anything touch you that hasn’t first passed through His loving hands? Make that your goal today in every circumstance that comes your way.
Lord, help us to trust You with disappointments, missed opportunities, and even when it seems like our world is turning upside down. You are in control and, because You are loving and good, You wouldn’t have things any other way.
Further Reading:
Isaiah 55:10-13
Matthew 7:11
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/LightFieldStudios
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