Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY
/
Are You Second
Are You Second
Mar 18, 2025 6:19 PM

  Are You Second-Guessing God?

  By Cindi McMenamin

  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

  Nor are your ways My ways,” declares theLord.

  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

  So are My ways higher than your ways

  And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

  Have you ever second-guessed God, by wondering if He really knew what He was doing?

  I remember when my husband applied for what seemed like the perfect job. At the perfect time. With a perfect salary. But when my husband didn’t get the job we thought was so perfect in every way, I became discouraged and began to question God.

  I prayed, “Why not, God? This was so perfect for us. We prayed about it. And we

  trusted You. Why did you not bless us with this?”

  Yet God apparently knew what He was doing. Even though we didn’t. And now when we look back at what we thought was the perfect job at the perfect time, we can see that it wasn’t perfect for him, after all, and it wasn’t the perfect time either. God knew what was coming…and He had something better in mind.

  In Isaiah 55, verses 5-8, God told His people that His thoughts were not like their thoughts, and neither were their ways like His. That’s because He knows all things and we don’t. But that passage also says His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, meaning better, and encompassing eternal purposes, while we tend to look at just the temporary.

  In the next two verses, God told His people as therain and the snow come down from heaven,

  and do not return there without watering the earth and making it produce and sprout, and providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will His word be which goes out of His mouth; it will not return to Him empty, without accomplishing what He desires, and without succeeding in the purpose for which He sent it.

  That passage assures us that God not only knows what’s best for us, but He has His eternal purposes at work in what He allows, as well as what He prevents.

  How often do you and I ask God, “Why now? It couldn’t have come at a worse time!” How often do we wonder, Why this? We were faithful and we were hoping for the best! How many times do we say, “Why me? As if I haven’t been through enough already!” We even sometimes offer God our list of reasons why we believe His timing and His choice were not in our best interest.

  And yet, God continues to know what He is doing. We cannot second-guess Him. Sometimes He’s protecting us from something we can’t yet—or might not ever—see. Other times He is preparing something even better for us that we have yet to discover. And I believe at all times, as long as we stay surrendered to Him, He is shaping our character and refining us through our circumstances.

  Intersecting Life Faith:

  God has reasons far above our own because He is God and we are not. And we are asked to simply trust that…

  There is an occasion for everything and a time for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and that means He didn’t get the timing wrong in the slightest.“His work is perfect; all his ways are just” (Deuteronomy 32:4), and He is a God who never makes mistakes. He is a God who “does not slumber or sleep” (Psalm 121:3-4), meaning nothingtakes Him by surprise.Can you trust God today instead of second-guessing Him? Can you live with the assurance that He loves you beyond comprehension and that nothing takes Him by surprise and He won’t let anything touch you that hasn’t first passed through His loving hands? Make that your goal today in every circumstance that comes your way.

  Lord, help us to trust You with disappointments, missed opportunities, and even when it seems like our world is turning upside down. You are in control and, because You are loving and good, You wouldn’t have things any other way.

  Further Reading:

  Isaiah 55:10-13

  Matthew 7:11

  Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/LightFieldStudios

  Cindi McMenamin is a national speaker, Bible teacher, and award-winning writer who helps women and couples strengthen their relationship with God and others. She is also a mother, pastor’s wife, and author of 17 books, includingWhen Women Walk Alone (more than 150,000 copies sold),When God Sees Your Tears,When a Woman Overcomes Life’s Hurts, andWhen Couples Walk Together:31 Days to a Closer Connection,which she co-authored with her husband of 35 years. For more onher speaking ministry, coaching services for writers, and books to strengthen your soul, marriage, and parenting, see her website:www.StrengthForTheSoul.com.

  Check out fantastic resources on Faith, Family, and Fun at Crosswalk.com!

  Related Resource: Bold Prayers: Asking God to Reveal the Roots of Our AnxietySometimes, anxiety can hit without any recognizable provocation, or our anxiety can feel more intense than the situation warrants. When we find ourselves in that place, we can pray the prayer ancient Israel's second king, David, prayed at the end of Psalm 139, trusting that our God will and is leading us to increased freedom. Listen in to this episode of Faith Over Fear and have your mind and heart fixed on the truth you need for your day! If you like this episode, be sure to subscribe onApple orSpotify so you never miss an episode!

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY
Confident Praying
  Weekend, June 22, 2024   Confident Praying   Never stop praying. (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NLT)   Herod Agrippa was the consummate career politician. The main thing for him was staying in power. So, he had James arrested, and then he executed him. He saw that curried favor with his constituents, so he planned to execute Peter as well.   Now, this wasn’t the same...
After Roe’s Reversal, Most Churches Still Aren’t Involved with a Local Pregnancy Center
  Two years ago, the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade and the right to an abortion. In the aftermath, many churchgoers say theyve seen their congregations involved in supporting local pregnancy resource centers.   On June 24, 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, the Supreme Court opened the door for states to pass laws restricting abortion. In the aftermath,...
Molières Medicine for Wayward Youth
  Before the Internet and social media, there was Johann Gutenberg’s seventeenth-century movable-type printing innovation. (The Chinese invented something similar centuries before, but without impact). It revolutionized the spread of literacy and contributed to the Protestant movement’s break from the Catholic Church.Between the printing press and the Internet, there were other things: the telegraph, radio, and TV. None diffused written texts...
Sparkling Gems from the Greek
  Are You Tired of WaitingFor Your Fruit-Producing Season?   Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. - Colossians 2:7   Have you ever been so frustrated at waiting for a fruitful time in your life that you said to the Lord, When is the fruit-producing season ever going to...
An Unveiled Lifestyle
  An Unveiled Lifestyle   Weekly Overview:   Living an unveiled lifestyle is the way in which we experience the fullness of what’s available to us in our restored relationship with God. It’s a powerful lifestyle of faith, direct encounters with our heavenly Father, and life transformation. It’s when we live our lives in light of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus that we...
Arab Israeli Christians Stay and Serve as Gaza War Riles Galilee
  One Friday evening, a young woman sat her toddler on her lap at Christ the King Evangelical Episcopal Church in Maalot-Tarshiha, a mixed Arab-Jewish town in northern Israel five miles from the border with Lebanon. Like mothers everywhere, she clapped her hands and beckoned a response.   What does the cow say? Moo, the child replied.   What does the dog say?...
When We Get Too Weary (Galatians 6:9)
  When We Get Too Weary (Galatians 6:9)   By Anne Peterson   And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.- Galatians 6:9   Let’s face it, we all get weary. Wiping the sleep out of our eyes, we know that we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing. A...
J. K. Rowling and the Hate Monster
  Let me tell you about an intense time in British politics: one where Scotland’s hate speech legislation came into force, the final Cass Review into paediatric gender medicine was published, a UK general election was called, and Nigel Farage made a triumphant political return.   Throughout, J. K. Rowling tweeted.   On June 3, Farage left his quondam job as telly broadcaster...
Your Life Needs Your Unique God
  Your Life Needs Your Unique God-Made Pace   By Keri Eichberger   For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. - Ephesians 2:10   As my heart rate reached 175 beats per minute, lightheadedness shifted to disorientation. Hints of nausea grew to deep gut punches. My breath shallowed and...
SCOTUS Did Not Dodge the Abortion Pill Case
  A unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States, preserving a federal agency’s relaxed regulations of an abortion-causing drug, is not what contemporary Court-related coverage and commentary would lead one to expect. Although, in fact, consensus is the order of the day at the Court, breathless reports of split decisions, bitter dissents, and partisan divides—especially in June—tend to...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved