It’s getting late and we just got home a little while ago from running a few errands. The weather was terrific – it was 70 here this evening, and in the midst of looking at emails and text messages, my phone let me know that there was a weather alert. That’s right – a weather alert – in the middle of a 70 degree evening. Of course, I thought it was a mistake but when I checked on it, I found out that the temperature is expected to be 28 in the morning when we arise, we are expecting 2-4 inches of snow and the there is a strong chance of blowing snow that will make drive time especially hazardous.
Now I am from Chicago and aside from the moniker of “the windy city”, it is true that the weather changes on a moment’s notice but that still isn’t anything compared to what we have experienced here in central Indiana this winter. Needless to say, we are all getting tired of the extended weather issues around these parts. Thank God it was clear both to and from our destination on our recent getaway.
But now, it looks like we are back in the middle of a wintry mix. It occurs to me that this isn’t the case with God. He is never unpredictable in His love for us. Sure, there are times when we ask for things and are disappointed when God doesn’t deliver on our requests. But this isn’t because He doesn’t love us – it’s because it may not fit into His grand scheme for our lives. And even if God doesn’t always answer our prayers in the way we want, He still loves us more than we know.
Sometimes, though, we aren’t so predictable in our love for God. Bad fortune or things not going the way we desire can lead most of us to question our heavenly Father. That’s when we need, more than ever, to push through the doubt and remain steadfast in our faith. Make no mistake, that can be challenging and God knows our human weakness, but depending on Him is the only way to go. The verse for tonight is from 1 Peter 5:10, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
My encouragement this evening is that you can depend on God to be predictable in His love and steadfast commitment to you. My prayer is that you will lean on the Father and His Son to build you up in the faith and help you to affirm that God is a forever God – steadfast, loyal and committed to spending eternity with you. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…