God’s ways are always good, but sometimes life throws us so many curve balls that our default is to duck or run at everything that comes around the corner. We brace for impact and just hope the catch doesn’t leave a mark. Instead of becoming more resilient and agile, life can make us more rigid and unmoving. Many resort to leaving the field altogether, just sitting the bench, or even taking off the jersey. The idea of a good God all but lost. That is the saddest of resignations.
Colossians 1:19-20 says, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” That word fullness is that which is filled. Another definition is as a ship in as much as it is filled or manned with sailors, rowers, and soldiers. One of my favorite meanings is filled with the presence, power, and riches of God. The last definition I found was completeness. It made me think about the phrase that Jesus spoke before He died: “It is finished.”
In my processing this season…a season full of things I didn’t and wouldn’t choose…a season that has felt like an endless cycle of curve balls…I’ve fought to know where to stand. I’ve never doubted who God is, but I’ve had to let some of my illusions die…the things I’ve turned truth into that were never really the promise. I’ve wanted to believe for better days, but I wanted to make sure that was a biblical place to stand. In the process, the Holy Spirit has apprehended me with a new and a better hope.
In this world of ups and downs, we’ve got to know that in all God does to grow us in the down swing, He’s always working toward the upturn. We’ve got to know that we may feel like a ship lifting and falling at the whim of the waves, but our God is the God that speaks to the waves when they aren’t working toward His purpose. I’m not talking about a prosperity gospel that isn’t sustainable or biblical, but the clear and promised truth of the Word of God. God is always working toward fullness. God is always working toward a greater glory. He is always filling. To lose hope in His constant work of reconciliation and redemption, to lose hope in His upward aim is to lose hope in who He is. And I’ve not always made that connection.
He is the God who saw Noah all the way to the ark. He is the God who walked the Israelites all the way to the promise land. He is the God who drew His promise to Abraham in the stars and not only gave him a son but did the crazy multiplication that He promised. He is the God who dreamed with Joseph all the way to the palace. He is the God who covered Adam’s nakedness and promised to crush the head of his enemy. Then He did so by walking Jesus all the way to the cross.
He is the upward aim. The promise. The hope of glory. He has filled us with Himself. Fullness. Completeness. But to believe in Him is to also believe that He’s not done. He’s forever heading us toward the upturn. It’s His nature. It’s who He is. He’s filling our vessel with everything we need to get there. And the Holy Spirit is the deposit on it. Already collected and already producing.
If God isn’t doing things the way I want Him to, its because there is a better way. He is always working for good. Hear me today. God is not done. If it’s not good, He’s not finished. He is working on the upturn.