God Knew Best

Excerpt from I Kissed Dating Goodbye, pages 83-85.

Many people realize too late that we don’t arrive at contentment as a destination as much as we develop contentment as a state of mind.  Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6:6 that “godliness with contentment is great gain.”  And in Philippians 4:11 he writes, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”  What is Paul’s secret?

Paul shares it with us: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).  Paul trusted God to give him strength to endure any situation he faced.  In the same way, we can gain contentment when we trust in God’s strength and God’s grace to sustain us through any circumstance.  Whether you’re single or married; whether you’re liked, loved, or lonely; the key to contentment is trust.  Believe it or not, if we are discontented with singleness, we’ll more than likely face discontentment when we’re married.  When we define our happiness by some point in the future, it will never arrive.  We’ll keep waiting until tomorrow.  If we allow impatience to govern us, we will miss the gift of the moment.  We’ll arrive at that point in time that we expected to provide fulfillment and find it lacking.

One lady wrote to me, frustrated that people often view a single woman as just marking time until the right man comes along.  “Poor single woman!” she continued.  “The world wants her to fornicate, and the church wants her to marry!  Whatever happened to what Paul said about the blessings of being single?  William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, write, ‘Don’t instill, or allow anybody else to instill into the hearts of your girls the idea that marriage is the chief end of life.  If you do, don’t be surprised if they get engaged to the first empty, useless fool they come across.”  Women (and men) should marry when it is plainly the will of God for their lives, not because they ‘can’t minister’ otherwise, or because of social pressure.”  I can only add a hearty “Amen!” to her comments.

Author John Fischer, speaking as a single, young adult said, “God has called me to live now, not four years from now.  He wants me to realize my full potential as a man right now, to be thankful for that, and to enjoy it to the fullest.  I have a feeling that a single person who is always wishing he were married will probably get married, discover all that is involved, and wish he were single again.  He will ask himself, ‘Why didn’t I use that time, when I didn’t have so many other obligations, to serve the Lord? Why didn’t I give myself totally to Him then?’”

Instead of rushing foolishly into a marriage because of impatience or one day reviewing our season of singleness with regret, let’s commit to using our singleness to its fullest potential.  Singleness is a gift.  Let’s rejoice in it and enjoy its opportunities today.  Let’s practice trusting God by pursuing His kingdom and His righteousness with all our hearts and by leaving the planning to Him.

In this life we will not understand all He does.  But we know in the end, His perfect timing will be revealed. In a poem titled “Sometime,” May Riley Smith beautifully expressed the perspective of heaven we will one day possess:

Sometimes, when all life’s lessons have been learned,

And sun and stars forevermore have set,

The things which our weak judgments here have spurned,

The things o’er which we grieved with lashes wet,

Will flash before us out of life’s dark night,

As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;

And we shall see how all God’s plans are right,

And how what seemed reproof was love most true.

Then be content poor heart;

God’s plans, like lilies pure and white, unfold;

we must not tear the close-shut leaves apart, –

Time will reveal the chalices of gold.

And if, through patient toil, we reach the land

Where tired feet, with sandals loosed, may rest,

When we shall clearly see and understand,

I think that we will say, “God knew the best!”

Do you believe that God knows best? Then place your life’s calendar at His feet and allow Him to handle the scheduling of your relationships.  Trust Him even if it means not dating when other people think you should.  When God knows you’re ready for the responsibility of commitment, He’ll reveal the right person under the right circumstances.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” God says matter-of-factly, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).  Let’s live our todays for His kingdom and entrust our tomorrows to His providence.  We couldn’t lay our futures in better hands. All we have to do is trust.

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