There is one thing about me that is undeniable and that is that I like things neat and tidy. My computer desktop is arranged in a very orderly fashion. My closet is arranged by season with tops, sweaters, pants, and dresses all color-coded. Within my drawers, all my t-shirts, jeans, etc. are folded neatly and arranged in a way that they are easily found. My car is neat and clean just like Ken Stith always liked it. My office files are labeled and in order; passwords in a hard file and a soft one; names of lawyers, financial manager, accountant, and bank info all in a file to make it easy for whomever is left to deal with my passing. Every area of my life is organized and accounted for. Yet even with all this organization, life is messy and unpredictable.
There is only so much that we can control, if anything. Well, yes, now that I live alone, I can control how clean my house is and all the other superficial things I mentioned, but I can’t control the letter that comes from the IRS that says they’ve made an adjustment to my 2017 tax returns claiming I owe them an additional $30k. And I can’t control my son being told that, because of his criminal history (10 years ago), the motor vehicle department won’t issue him a seller’s license for where he works, so he can’t work there anymore. And I can’t control the bad news that’s going to come next week or next month about the friend with the cancer diagnosis, etc.
For everything that is good about life, there is the bad, and so life is a paradox of ups and downs, order and chaos. I’m a simple person, and I like when things are simple, but rarely, if ever, is anything in life simple. I have watched my son, Benjamin, go through so much crap throughout his life. Most of it was the result of his own doing; fleshly ways, childishness, selfishness, immaturity, rebellion, etc., but some of it was just life stuff–stuff that no one can predict or control. I see how the evil one tries to use it to get him to think that God isn’t trustworthy, loving, or dependable and trash his faith. I watch him beginning to sink into feelings of despair and hopelessness, unaware that his mind is being invaded by God’s chief enemy and opponent. It’s hard to watch.
Even though life is messy, unpredictable, and out of order, God is not. What is true about Him is that he has known about the mess all along, has prepared for it, and will reveal His character in it. He brings order into the chaos. And though life is messy, He uses the mess to tell a story of His faithfulness. Every single challenge becomes an opportunity to discover something amazing and miraculous about God. He’s the God who turns water into wine, who raises the dead, who gives sight to the blind, who opens the ears of the deaf, who makes men walk on water, who turns hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, who makes the poor rich and the rich poor. So whatever your mess is, it’s not too messy for Him. The greatest paradox of all in life is how big God is, but how small we view Him.
Life Is A Paradox