Make No Mistake

Make no mistake, God does not make mistakes.

We hear it all around us. The questioning of God’s ways, both from skeptics as well as believers.

We hear things like, “how could a good God allow this (or that) to happen?”  We also hear those who would question the actions of God recorded in the Bible. We just can’t understand the motives and decisions of God and it bothers us. For centuries the skeptics have tried to discount God’s infallibility by pointing out the presumed contradictions in the Scriptures.  But God is clear in His own defense ( as if He needs any).

Deut. 32:4 says, “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” (NIV)

Psalm 18:30 says, “As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.”

Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The disciples thought that the death of Jesus was a mistake. They didn’t understand, even after walking with Him for three years, that He came to die on purpose. It didn’t fit into their logic. They thought He had come to free them from Rome and when He died they were sure that it was a mistake.

Still today, His followers are often puzzled by the way God works in our world. It doesn’t make sense to us. But would we really want to serve a God that made sense to our limited human intellect? Probably not!

When we see injustice and tragedy in the news it’s hard not to ask why. When we face painful circumstances in our own lives or the lives of loved ones, it’s hard not to think God made a mistake.  But we must remember what the prophet Isaiah told us. In Isaiah 55:9 he says “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” That means we can’t even begin to understand what is in the mind of God. When we try, all we do is get confused and discouraged. Instead, we would do better to focus on trusting Him to do what we cannot do for ourselves. Trust him to not only make our circumstances work for our good, but to take our own mistakes and bring good from them as well. He is able to make all things work for good. That means the ugly things we see in the headlines every day as well as our own foolish mistakes brought about from our misguided motives and selfish desires. We can let God bring good from all of it if we will trust Him. He knows what He’s doing.  Always.