God’s Providence and Our Unshakeable Trust

We can trust God’s providence (His plans for our good).

But in the meantime we must get accustomed to waiting.

Life transitions always seem to take longer than we wish or expect.

But God’s providence (His will for our blessing) is certainly being worked out.

Trust in God’s providence is never disappointed.

But there will be times and ‘opportunities’ to ride the unpredictable waves of denial, anger, bargaining, and depression – all intermingled through the inevitable ripples of acceptance that serendipitously meander their way within them – bringing a welcome relief of calm that we might rest.

Two Forms of Waiting

God is teaching us something in all this – if we will wait on through the pain of the moment.

When we can wait in the moment of pain – when we are tempted to deny, explode with anger, bargain on ‘another way’, or sink into a depression – we gain access to a mysterious strengthening. This is the first form of waiting. God is able to be discerned in this – his inimitable Presence.

As we cope with the pain, not denying, getting angry, nor bargaining, nor getting depressed, we come close to the Lord by simple recognition. We can resist these things by simply being in his Presence.

The second form of waiting is the ultimate form – where we wait for the full realisation – the fuller manifestation – of God’s promises for our lives out of the grip of loss, enforced transition, and inevitable grief.

When God said to me a decade ago, “I will give you a second chance,” I believed him because I had no other real, sane choice. Even though it’s taken nearly all that time to more fully realise this role of God’s providence over my life, I’ve seen signs all along – signs of God’s faithfulness that have encouraged me to be faithful. Still, I’ve needed to wait. But then from the aspect of today, I think, “What more is to come?”

Waiting is blessed.

When we can wait, and we do so patiently, there is only one true and appropriate designation – blessing. Sure, waiting will involve discomfort, which is its own form of pain we tend to shy away from – especially in a world shrouded in ‘comforts’ of all kinds. But the world’s comforts are a trap. They take us away from the capacity to enjoy true comfort.

***

Trust in God’s providence is never disappointed. If we can wait, and if we can surrender our vanities, God is preparing for us a banquet of gorgeous extremes beyond our hopes and expectations. Every wait is worth it, for what God is about (or still) to pour into our lives.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.