Amen

In thinking whether we trust God or not: 

I'd like to remind us that God saw what was happening with Babel and the building of the tower therein. He took action, clearly demonstrating He is God and we are not in control. We humans like to think we're in control. If we are very careful about X then Y will not happen. Some parents think they are in control of aspects of their children's lives which no mortal can actually control, for example. 

As we see more Christians get obsessed with the way medicine works, often for reasons not hard to comprehend, it is essential to always put our actions and the expectations of those actions in the pool of God's sovereignty. Our putting them in the pool does not change the reality He IS sovereign and in complete control. Rather, it changes our focus--our obsessing. It changes our telling people off regarding their health decisions. It changes our pride and self-assurance. It changes our anxiety over making sure it is all perfect. Bear in  mind, God chastens those He loves. 

Doing all we know to be right to avoid a certain circumstance, and then having that circumstance become our reality, changes us in ways nothing else can. When we are people with terrific conviction, drive, and discipline, we can make many things happen. It can be easy to forget it is God who enables success and brings results,  regardless of whether they are positive or negative. They are His to bring. 

So we buy organic meat and dairy and our child still starts puberty prematurely. 

We don't vaccinate and our child grows up to be infertile. 

We are careful in pregnancy and our child still gets life threatening allergies. 

We don't use traditional medicine and cancer still comes. 

We clean with natural products and uncontrollable rashes still turn up. 

We never used chemicals on our skin or went out in the sun,  and skin cancer still showed up.

How can this be?? We did all we knew to be right, faithfully, and yet, we suffer. 

Beloved, let us remember that God is sanctifying His children. It's not about creating the perfect scenario to then bring the perfect outcome. It's not about us having it ALL the way we've worked to have it. 

Don't you see? The issue is this: are we going to work hard to do what we believe is right, trusting Him if it turns out we're wrong, or trusting Him if it turns out we were right but it still went all wrong? Where is the grace and mercy if that isn't how it works? Because some do it ALL wrong and get the results we'd want. Right? The mother who smoked in pregnancy had a healthy baby. The mother who never went around second-hand smokers had a child who developed asthma early on. And we recognize that as grace and mercy with the smoker,  right? The issue isn't the ISSUE at all. It is where our trust is. God's grace and mercy are not dependent on anything we can muster or control. They are His gifts to give. Our job is to serve Him faithfully and work hard, always trusting the results to be part of His plan. Not our plan.

We're not to be fatalistic because God calls His children to righteousness and excellence. He expects us to trust Him and if we do not, He cares enough to make the trust happen. Even if the fallout of that process is something we must look at for the rest of our lives. 

God is good, all the time.