Everything in God's Hands: Holy Wednesday, April 12

 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations
Psalm 100:5 (ESV)

How many times do you hear people talk about how bad things are in our world, and wonder what will become of us? Or, how often do you hear, “how can things get any worse?” I find myself thinking the very same things from time to time. 

When, we try to remember a world from the past, we romanticize about a world that likely never existed in the way we think it did. 

The longer we dwell on the “good ole days,” the more our thoughts become diluted and confused. There is a term in Cherokee- i ye li s di i –which means the over-use of the imagination. That’s exactly what we are doing when we dwell on something from the past and try to make it fit into our false memory of how things used to be. 

The truth is every generation has lived through good times, as well as bad, and every generation has thought the next is headed for certain doom.

Jesus knew what every generation would go through. He knew the joys and the struggles that each would encounter. He knew that each generation would be faced with a unique set of hardships and burdens, and He placed each one of us in the place in history that He chose for us.

Likewise, Jesus knew the joys and pain He would encounter during his short life on earth. He knew in choosing Judas as a disciple that he would one day betray Him. He knew, when riding into Jerusalem amid shouts of “Hosanna!”, that the end of his earthly life was near. But He didn’t think, “if only I had lived during Moses’ time, it would have been better back then.” He knew his time on earth was perfect for his task.

We live in a fallen world. In each generation, man thinks he has the answers to solve all the world’s problems and make the world a better place, but the only one who can do that is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Our faith and trust must be in Christ and in Christ alone.

Dear Jesus, forgive us when we try to face life on our terms without seeking your perfect will for us first. Teach me to be more like you. You did not look back and regret the course of your life but instead looked forward to the completion ofyour task. You trusted God’s will would be done and that all would work for the good of all people by the week’s end. Help me also to trust God’s plan for my life. In your name, Amen.

Deaconess Cathy Benzler (Cherokee)
Olympic Peninsula, Washington