Don’t Look at What is Happening

Today I wanted to repost this post. After my last post, I went back and read this one. It was a fond memory and I needed to personally hear the message again. And when I also learned that Wanda, who commented on my last post, saved in her journal my statement “Don’t look at what is happening, look at what I am doing,” I thought it might need to come back around. I pray you enjoy it.

In the face of my sister’s bout with cancer, God answered my prayers with this statement, “Don’t look at what is happening, look at what I’m doing!”  Oh, I can’t tell you how liberating this is. Mankind tends to focus on what’s happening, and I am guilty of the same, but there’s something higher than what’s happening—God’s purposes.

But Look At What’s Happening!

I was tested on this just last week. Here is the scenario. I was traveling with Martha on standby tickets. This means if there’s a seat you fly, and if not, you sit and wait for the next opportunity. It can be a bit nerve-wracking. Suffice it to say, by the end, passengers waiting for seats are congratulating those cleared to fly. “Oh, so glad you made it.” After a while, the group of standby passengers develops a comradeship. Like waiting for a life raft off the Titanic (hahaha). Literally, if there’s no seat, then you don’t fly and most airlines overbook so…good luck!

On this trip, God tested me. He was kind enough to not leave me hanging, but He said “You’re not going to make this flight.” Though my why response was not stated, it was implied. “Why God?” He answered me, “To test your anxiety levels. Will you trust Me?”

I sat there, hoping for better but knowing the answer. We didn’t get on. The next flight rolled around and He said, “You’ll get on this one.” But you know how you can second-guess yourself and say, “Was that Him or me with my desire?” Well, we did actually make that flight. Duh, God told me!

As I was sitting in seat 24b with Martha to my left, He reminded me…”Don’t look at what is happening, look at what I’m doing!”

But What About What’s Happening?

Circumstances can seem so momentous when they push against God’s purposes. We are so vulnerable to our Creator. Nothing happens outside His control. Look at this passage from Isaiah 45:

“So all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am the LORD, and there is no other. I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the LORD, am the one who does these things.”
Isaiah 45:6-7 NLT

The whole chapter is indicting. God is over all! That includes everything from planes to cancer, despots to peoples. Nothing happens beyond His control. Wow! This is both comforting and terrifying. My God is in control – period, end of story.

So when I am tempted to fret or fear, I’m called to entreat my Abba, my Creator, as the One who’s in control. He promised to not leave me or forsake me. I am shepherded by my Shepherd regardless of what is happening.

“Even to your old age I am He, and even to hair white with age will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry and will save you.”
Isaiah 46:4 AMP