From Theology To Doxology

Everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory.

Romans 11:36

God promises that he is always and everywhere in charge. He is not haphazard in his work. He is strategic. Things are unfolding according to a carefully orchestrated plan, and each person and circumstance has an assigned place in his purpose.

We are not automatons or robots. We are invited to cooperate with him in accomplishing his purposes. Only God could have put together such a perfect arrangement of details. In contemplating all the complexities, Paul reaches the end of his prodigious intellect’s ability to comprehend it all, and breaks out in praise for the God who is so amazing that the only thing we can do is adore him.

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

Romans 11:33

How do your own circumstances look to you when you recognize that everything that happens is somehow serving God’s purpose? Does today’s verse force you to come to grips with things going on in your life in light of his plan? That’s all right. You can do that. It might bring you to a moment of deeper devotion than ever before as you realize that God is working something out for your good and for his glory, even though that is not evident to you right now. Choose to believe his promise. When I’m struggling, as I often do, I finally come to the point where I say, “I will not not believe.”

You are not abandoned. God is carefully working things out.

I surrender all. All to you, Jesus, I surrender. I surrender all.

Frequently we hold on so tightly to the good that we do know that we cannot receive the greater good that we do not know. God has to help us let go of our tiny vision in order to release the greater good he has in store for us. . . . A settled peace is the most frequent experience of those who have trod the path of relinquishment.

Richard Foster(1942–), American minister and author