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The program you carefully planned gets put into someone else's hands at the last minute. It goes great, and that person gets credit for the success.

You jump into a new enterprise with every hope that it will succeed, and it flops. All your best efforts can't make it work.

Where is God at those times? He's closer than you think. And often he gives you certain responsibilities but doesn't expect you to do everything. Sometimes he chooses someone else for a job you'd like to do. Sometimes he lets you take a project only so far, then hands it over to someone else. Sometimes he lets you find out the hard way that you can't do everything.

In each of those difficult circumstances, you can find reasons to worship him for his wisdom. King David did that after he realized God's plans were different from his own. David wanted to build a permanent temple in Jerusalem to replace the tabernacle of worship. God said no, the building of the temple would be left to David's son Solomon. In fact, David would never see it.

David's response to disappointment was to make sure Solomon had everything he needed for the future task—and to lead a huge crowd of people in public worship. His prayers pointed everyone's attention away from himself and toward the Lord. (See also 1 Kings 18:1-10 ; Haggai 1:1-11 ; Acts 4:32-5:11; 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 .)

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from you, and of your own we have give you. 1 Chronicles 29:14

Are there any areas of life in which you need to "let go and let God"?

Copyright 2001 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian Bible Studies.

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