Have It Your Way

For forty years, Burger King was known for its slogan, “Have It Your Way.”  It would be wonderful if one could order life like this.

Give me a double blessing with pleasure, money, recognition, a little adventure, and hold the danger.

Give me a mega church with extra good health, great leaders, and make it problem free.

Unfortunately, life does not work like this.  If we put our trust in Him, God has promised to be with us every moment of our journey.  But, He chooses to let every bend hold a surprise. None of us get to order life our way.

We cannot see what tomorrow will bring: transitions, career shifts, moves, health adjustments, family changes, and cultural revolutions.  Life is filled with diversity and is always shifting.

Solomon speaks of this in Ecclesiastes 3:

“To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to gain, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to throw away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate;

A time of war, and a time of peace.”

Life comes with many seasons, twists, and turns.  Just open your local newspaper or read the national headlines.  Every day our world is rocked with news and descriptions of how quickly life can change.

The Supreme Court’s Ruling Causes Seismic Cultural Shift.

Greek Crisis Rocks the Stock Market.

ISIS Takes Key City in Iraq.

Week of Severe Weather Leaves at Least 43 Dead Across Seven States.

Words, such as these, can quickly bring fear and dread into our lives.  The changing seasons of Supreme Court rulings, financial crashes, terrorist plots, and natural disasters can cause us to quiver and be anxious about tomorrow.  For many of us, we are left to wonder, “Where can we find security and hope in our ever-changing world?”

We find hope in the same place that it has always rested.  Our hope is in an unchanging God, who is still on His throne.  Changes do not surprise God.  He is the One who created all the seasons of life.

I may not know what tomorrow brings, but I do know who holds tomorrow in His hands.

If our security rests in the momentary things of this world, then life often disappoints.  But, what if this world is just another season that God has given?  What if the winter seasons of life are meant to prepare us for a coming spring like we have never known?  The apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18,  “Therefore, we do not give up.  Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.  For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.  So we do not focus on what is seen, but what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Eternal life with an unchanging God of power and grace.  When that season comes, we will look back and realize that the winters were rather mild.