The God Of All Comfort

Jeremiah 10:23 (NIV) says, “LORD, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.”

I read a short story awhile back which spoke of a full bus going down a long, curvy mountain.  Suddenly the brakes gave way, of course causing a lot of panic.  The bus thankfully made it down to the bottom safely, but once it stopped a man noticed a young boy was sleeping in the back of the bus.

The child stirred, and the man asked him, “How could you have slept through all the chaos and noise?”

The boy’s reply, “My dad’s driving the bus.”

I love that!  The little boy had total confidence that they were going to be alright because he trusted his dad – the driver of the bus.

My question:  Do we trust our Dad – meaning our Heavenly Father?

Just like me, I’m sure the majority of you have found yourself sometimes going, “How did I get here?  What purpose am I really serving doing this?”

But then, when you look back later, you start to see reasons that God placed you there at that particular time.  You might wonder why you didn’t figure it out sooner.  Well maybe God didn’t want you to – after all, you might have messed it up as you tried to work out His divine plan!

There are many seasons in my life that when I look back I can see how God did things that I couldn’t imagine when I was right smack in the middle of it.  And I’m thankful that He used me in those situations – sometimes even when I didn’t deserve it.

There were times growing up that were really hard – but God had a plan.

There were times I was stuck at jobs which were brutal – but again God had a plan.

There were times when my heart felt like it would never be alright again because the pain was so intense – but looking back I can see how God needed me to go through those things, because He had a plan.

Perfectionism is a thing a lot of us struggle with, isn’t it?  I’ve certainly found myself in that situation many times.  I work myself up to a panicked state trying to get things just right – doing things in my own power instead of trusting my Father.

But we need to let it go!

I remember one time I was really going through a difficult time.  I was trying to “do” too many different things all at once – and was failing miserably.  I went to a prayer sister and asked her to pray.  As I explained all the things going on, she said, “You need to quit trying so hard!”

Stuck with me…

Joab was the Commander of King David’s army.  Now he didn’t always do things as he should have, yet there was one major battle where he definitely gave credit where credit was due.

The Israelites were heading into a major battle, where their enemies the Arameans were stationed on the one side of them; and on the other side stood their enemies the Ammonites.

Here was Joab’s plan (2 Samuel 10:9-12 NLT – underscore mine):

When Joab saw that he would have to fight on both the front and the rear, he chose some of Israel’s elite troops and placed them under his personal command to fight the Arameans in the fields.  He left the rest of the army under the command of his brother Abishai, who was to attack the Ammonites.  “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then come over and help me,” Joab told his brother.  “And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and help you.  Be courageous!  Let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God.  May the Lord’s will be done.”

Joab fully realized that God needed to be driving the bus in that battle if they were to win.  The odds were just too great.  The outcome?  2 Samuel 10:13-19, says the Israelites ended up killing 700 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers – the rest of their enemies fled.

It really doesn’t matter how large an obstacle may seem to our human eyes, with God we can rest in His arms, just like the little boy slept in the back of the out-of-control bus.