The proper response to respond “What God is up to” is… who knows?!  When it comes to why God causes/allows the unexpected to come into our life, there is NO WAY we can have any clue about it whatsoever.  The ONLY thing we can be sure of at a any particular point in time is this… It is for His glory and our ultimate good.  Read that again… HIS glory and our ultimate good.

Name whatever you want, as a believer in Christ, God is providential in all things.  There are no such thing as cosmic coincidences.  God is always working out His plan… and His plan is always good, perfect, and right (Click here for the follow-up post).

Why did Joseph give a bad report about his brothers?  Why did they plot to kill him?  Why did they throw him into a hole?  Why did one brother talk them out of killing him?  Why did they sell him into slavery?  Why did they lie to their dad about his condition?  Why did Potifer’s wife falsely accuse him of rape so that he was thrown into prison?  Why was he left there for years after he should have been freed?  Why did God not tell him at any point during all these things what He was up to?

Listen to what Joseph said to his brothers that also answer thoses questions from Genesis 50:20…. “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”  All those things were part of God’s providence.

Was Abraham clear about the future as he prepared to sacrifice his son?  Did Moses know how God would handle everything when he returned to confront Pharoah?   Did David know how things would work out while Saul was trying to kill him?  What was going through Daniel’s mind as he was being thrown into the lion’s den?  Did Jonah know what God would do while in the belly of the fish? What was Peter thinking as he heard the rooster crow?  Did Paul understand what God would do when he left Jerusalem for Damascus?  As John was riding on a boat to the Isle of Patmos, did he have a clue what he was about to experience?

So you’ve lost your job?  So your life isn’t going as you planned?  So things are out of your control?  So the future seems uncertain to you?  So you feel as though everyone has left you?  You are feeling hopeless… fearful… anxious… worried… afraid?  Let me close with a few verses from God’s Word you need to bury deep into your soul…

Psalm 42:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation  6 and my God. 11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.  43:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21  to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Philippians 2:13 It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.  31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32  He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? 37 In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.