In Good Hands

Waiting on God can be difficult, especially when you are unsure what God is up to in our lives. God can be hard to figure out. The scriptures teach us that God’s ways are not our ways. The mind of God is beyond our grasp and understanding. Hence, at times, our relationship with God can leave us scratching our heads. 

In the Gospels, Jesus often left his disciples scratching their heads. Whether it was something Jesus said or something he did, the disciples could not usually make sense of what Jesus was doing. According to John’s Gospel, on the night before his death, Jesus took a towel and basin and washed the disciples’ feet. This behavior was shocking to them. Washing a person’s feet was the responsibility of a servant or a slave. It was not something that you would expect from a rabbi. It was not that which they could see Jesus doing. But here he was kneeling at their feet.

When he came to Peter, Peter questioned Jesus’ actions. It didn’t make sense to Peter that Jesus would wash his feet. Jesus responds to Peter, saying, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” (John 13:37) Peter would not understand what Jesus was doing, not then, at least. It would be much later before Peter would understand what Jesus had done. 

We don’t always know what God is doing in our lives. However, even in our lack of understanding, we can trust that God is working on our behalf. Even when life doesn’t make sense, God is still in control bringing his will to fruition. Our lives are not spinning wildly around as if there is no purpose for our living. While life can be chaotic, and we can question God’s action, we can still place our faith in God. Like Peter, what God is doing now might not make sense in the present, later we will all understand. The apostle Paul would echo this truth in his letter to the Corinthians where he writes, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) God is faithful to his people. God kneels at the feet of each of our lives and says, “trust me.” We are in good hands.