Everything Will Work Out

I’m writing this on September 29th.  That really doesn’t seem possible.  I don’t know where summer went.  But now, not only is it fall, it’s moving on toward winter.  On Saturday it will be October.  We can certainly have some nice days in October, of course.  But we also know that, once we hit October, snow is always one of the possibilities.  

We’ve all seen some terrible snowstorms in October.  One that is particularly memorable for me happened at the end of October in 1989.  It’s memorable for me because Wanda I got married on October 28.  I got up that morning and it was a beautiful morning.  It could almost have been summer.  In the afternoon, it clouded over and started to cool off.  In the evening, it started to rain.  We drove in rain all the way to Rapid City, where we were supposed to get on a plane the next morning.  When we woke up the next morning, there was a snowstorm.

We did, ultimately, manage to fly out of Rapid City, although we left around noon rather than around 9:00 like we were supposed to.  Our connections were all messed up, of course, so instead of getting to Orlando early in the evening we got there around midnight.  Still, we got there, and we had a good time, so I guess everything worked out.

And maybe that’s the point, really.  Everything worked out.  I’m not ready for winter to come, but everything will work out.  I’m not ready for snowstorms, either, but everything will work out.  That’s an optimistic viewpoint, I suppose, but I’m an optimist.  I think a Christian should be an optimist.  If we believe that God is all-powerful, and if we believe that God is in ultimate control, and if we believe that God is good, then it seems logical to believe that, in the end, things are going to happen the way God wants them to happen, and that, in the end, things will happen for the best.  In other words, everything will work out.

In my sermon last week, I looked at Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  Paul tells us not to be anxious about anything, but simply to be rejoice in the Lord, to present our requests to God, and to be thankful.  It’s not easy to do that, but there’s a pretty good reward if we do.  The reward is not that we get what we want, necessarily.  We might, but we might not.  That’s up to God, in accordance with God’s will.  The reward is that we get peace of mind.  That peace of mind comes not from getting what we think we want, but from knowing that God is there, that God has heard us, and that God will ultimately make things happen for the best.  In other words, again, everything will work out.

So, if you’ve got something on your mind this week, I hope you’ll do that.  Rejoice in the Lord, make your requests to God, and be thankful.  And have the peace of mind that comes from trusting in God.  That’s my wish for all of us, including myself:  that we have the peace of mind that comes from trusting in God.