Hope and gratitude: God knows when – 25 February 2022

When one thinks about all the disappointments that one so often has to overcome and all the changes that one has to get used to, there is a bit of comfort to which we can cling, the knowledge that God knows when the best and the right time is for things to happen in our lives.

It can sometimes become very frustrating because, as people, we often want to plan ahead and we actually want to determine how and when things need to happen ourselves. Most of the time, we believe that we know what is necessary or when we will need it.

Yet, I have learnt, and I am sure you have too, that, unfortunately, life does not work that way. We can plan and decide how things are going to be done, but in the old end life happens and it is not necessarily precisely the way we would have wanted it to be.

One of the most wonderful things that I have learnt upon reflection is the realisation that the right things happened at the right time. When one is living in the moment, one is unable to grasp why things do not happen exactly the way you wanted them to. Then frustrated, we wonder why things are the way they are.

In Ecclesiastes, the Bible reminds us that there is a time for everything in life. Yes, unfortunately, there is also a time when we experience hardship. But even then, we can keep holding on to the knowledge that God will use the difficult times to do something good in our lives. It is part of the wonder of knowing God and being His child. God uses the different times in our lives to help us to grow and to strengthen us.

And God always knows what the best is for us. He knows how to use the highs and lows of life for our good. He also knows when certain things in our lives are necessary – also for the months to come.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to trust that you will send the right things on my way at the right time this year. Thank you that you use the difficult times in my life to do good things in my life. Amen