The Greatest Possible World

Jeremiah 17:7: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is in the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when heat comes for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

To trust in the Lord, to have faith. I've always said that I believe in God's sovereign plan, but why does my heart get anxious and impatient for my own way? Why do I question God's work and purpose when I am in the midst of trials? Do I truly believe that God's way is best?

A few years ago, I used to wonder if I was living in the best possible world. I used to wonder if this life that I was living was the best life that God had for me. I was following him and seeking to obey him, but I couldn't understand why all of the pain and difficulties. I just knew that something had gotten off kilter in the world.

It's only been in the past year that I've come to realize (and I mean really understand, not just claim that I understand) that this life I'm living is the best possible life. Everything that has happened in my life - the joy, the pain, the suffering, the questions- all are a part of God's sovereign plan. To know that God is sovereign over everything that I do and fail to do, to know that I, in my weak and sinful state, cannot affect the will of God, is a liberating reality. Even the fact that I have these questions shows how far I am from the mind of God because His control and His ways are so much greater than I can even comprehend.
When trials come, we trust in God knowing that He will fulfill the desires of His heart, and His plans are good.

My professor once said in class, "The greatest possible world is world that has been redeemed." We writhe and jerk back from pain and difficulty. We feel our low state, and we realize our weaknesses and inabilities to provide for ourselves anything of lasting value. Everything fades away. But if there had never been any sin, if Adam and Eve had never looked away from God, could that really have been the best possible world? On a smaller scale, if I never went through the pain that God brings into my life, would I ever truly know Him as the One, True, Sovereign God?

If I never see the darkness, could I ever appreciate the sunrise? How sad our state by nature is, but how glorious our state in the redemption provided to us through the blood of Jesus Christ. Nothing else compares. And so with all of the junk that belongs to this fallen world, maybe, after all, we are living in the best possible world because it is the world that is under God's control, plan, and design. Jeremiah understood the pain and anger associated with the purposes of the Lord. In verse 30:24, he says, "The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind. In the latter days you will understand this."

I don't understand it now, but maybe one day, He will allow me to see the world from His perspective. Today, I only see in part. And the part that I see may not be the part that I want to see. When waiting for answers to my questions, I may not get the answers that I want. But the answers are good because they fall in line with the will of God. One day, we will see clearly.