In His Hands

How do we keep trusting God's hands? 

Yesterday I went to Equip, a Christian women's convention, in Darling Harbour.  The topic for the conference was In His Hands.  Di Warren, who is a fantastic speaker, shared her thoughts on being patient and trusting God.  She spoke on James 4:13 - 5:20.  I found her talk very compelling and challenging.  Di explored the notion that society tells us that everyone can have a fairytale life and live happily ever after.  But is it really that simple?  Is life that simple? Do we, mere humans, really have control over our aspects of our lives to create our own "fairytale" life?  Do we hold to Oprah's belief, "whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work," or, Quentin Bryce's opinion, "you can do anything, you can be anything"?

These ideas are  very encouraging and motivating, and there are some truths to what they say.  But is our "fairytale life" really in our hands?  Reading James 4:13-17, we're reminded that it's impossible to think that we have control over all that happens in our lives.  We don't know what will happen tomorrow, despite trying to plan everything out.  It doesn't mean that we shouldn't make plans, but we need humility about our plans, because we just don't know.  It's not in our hands, it's in God's.  Furthermore, Di pointed out, our attempts to pursue creating this "fairytale life" testifies against us (James 5:1 - 6).  James uses very strong imagery outlining how we can so often get life wrong.

Through all this, we need to acknowledge that the "fairytale life" is in God's hands and be reassured.  But, it's so hard to be patient and to trust God's hands, as there's a gap between what is now and what God has planned.  How do we trust God and his hands?  Well, Di reminded me that the Lord's coming is near (James 5:7-9).  It's only a matter of time before we get the fairytale - heaven.  It could be any day.  Not only is the Lord's coming near, but the Lord is full of compassion and mercy (James 5:10-11).  God's character is the answer, therefore we should know that we're safe in his hands.  He is patient and he cares for us.  It's knowing God that keeps us patient.  Hence, James calls us to pray, asking God to help us to trust in his hands.

So, let us pray (James 5: 12-20) when we're in trouble, when we're happy and when we're spiritually sick and struggling to be patient.