What’s God Up To?

“Then David said to himself, ‘Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul then will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand.’ So David arose and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's widow. Now it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he no longer searched for him.”
1 Samuel 27:1-4

David was told he was going to be king of Israel, but he spent most of the next ten years on the lam. Joseph had a dream in which he ruled over his brothers, but he spent the next thirteen years as a slave and a prisoner. It almost sounds like God was perpetrating some cruel joke on a couple of trusting teenagers, doesn’t it?

While we do know the outcome in the above cases, of course, we cannot foresee our own future. Yet we can trust God to operate on the same principles.

Foremost is that God is in control. Your life is not in a tailspin - controlled by fate or circumstance. An omniscient, sovereign God is ruling over everything. There are no accidents. He is never surprised.

Second, the God Who is in control is working for your good and His glory. He never promotes or fosters evil. He is always looking out for your best interests. The conflict comes because what He sees as working for our good is not what we desire. God uses adversity, dryness, temptation, and testing for our welfare.

Third, God will bless others through your wilderness. He is not working for your good only but for the benefit of all His people.