“As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.” – Ecclesiastes 11:5
Recently, in 5th and 6th grade Sunday school, we were studying about how God works and moves in order that we can see Him in action. The stories that were used to highlight this were: the account of Gideon and the army of 300 in Judges 7 (God whittles an army of 30,000 down to 300 and still defeats the enemy), Naaman’s leprosy in 2 Kings 5 (God cures leprosy in an unconventional way), and Balaam and the donkey that spoke in Numbers 22 (God uses a donkey to confront Balaam). In each of these situations, God did something extremely unexpected to fulfill His plan. I’ve been thinking about these situations and reflecting on how I often expect God to answer prayer or act in a situation in a certain way. These accounts cause me to zoom out and remember how big and sovereign our God is, and that most times, the solution or means to a solution that I see in a situation may not be what God is after. I take comfort in knowing His character (steadfast love in Psalm 118 and throughout the psalms) and can remind myself that He sees all of every situation, and that He will do what is best.
“As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.” Ecclesiastes 11:5 has also been a reminder that I cannot see God’s plan in everything around me. I can take comfort in knowing that He is the God of the whole of eternity: creation, the fall, God’s current plan of redemption, and the coming restoration; and that I can yield my will to Him.