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“The Lord my life arranges; Who can His work destroy? In His good time He changes All sorrow into joy. So let me then be still: My body, soul, and spirit His tender care inherit According to His will.”
“The Lord my life arranges.” Parents carefully arrange the lives of their children to keep them safe and to teach them to make wise choices. As children grow older, they learn to make simple decisions on their own, still under the guidance of adults, although rebellious teens may not be happy about such guidance. Our hymn describes a more important source of guidance. It is the Lord who watches over us as we “His tender care inherit according to His will.” There is comfort to be found in our Lord’s watchful care. With wonder and praise we recognize the Lord’s knowledge of our days before we even live them: “In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:16b).
Yet like rebellious children, we do not want anyone, even the Lord, arranging our lives. We want to be independent. Even our culture encourages individuals to “be your own person” or to be “authentic,” that is, true only to ourselves. As sinners we do not want to be accountable to our Creator, but God in loving care arranged our salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ was falsely accused of blasphemy against God and rebellion against Caesar. Jesus was condemned to death although He was innocent of any crime. It was our sins that He carried in His body to the cross. His atoning sacrifice was arranged before the foundation of the world. He was delivered up to death for our salvation “according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23b).
In the Lord’s Prayer we ask that God’s will would be done in our lives. He has given us His commandments to direct our daily lives and relationships according to His will. As we make decisions we turn to the wisdom of God’s Word and the counsel of brothers and sisters in Christ. The psalmist said that our days our written in God’s book, but we are also listed in another book. God chose us to be His own and before the world was created our names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. What is God’s will for us? Jesus, the Lamb of God, said, “This is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40). Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we receive forgiveness and eternal life. It is all arranged!
WE PRAY: Lord, lead me each day to live according to Your will. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler. It is based on the hymn, “From God Can Nothing Move Me,” which is number 713 in the Lutheran Service Book.
Reflection Questions:
- What great advice did your parent(s) or someone else give you as a young person? How have you passed this along to others?
- Why is holding ourselves accountable to God so difficult?
- How can we live as effective Christians in a world that disrupts our focus? See Hebrews 12:1-2; Isaiah 26:3; Colossians 3:2; and Matthew 6:33 for help.
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