“God wants what’s best for me” — have you heard that phrase before? For a long time I believed that to be true; but recently I asked myself the question: is this phrase rooted in Biblical truth? The phrase “God wants what’s best for me” can be easily misunderstood to imply that God agrees with our definition of what is best and, when we follow Him, He will cause “what’s best” to always happen for us…
It’s so easy to casually adopt words and phrases that sound nice but, when we fail to measure it against God’s Word, we start believing something that isn’t even true and are left discouraged, disillusioned, and disappointed. God cannot contradict His character: He is loving, kind, patient, true, good, faithful, trustworthy, all-knowing, sovereign…the list goes on. But sometimes things happen that cause us to question God’s intention towards us. Sometimes circumstances can cause us to doubt His character and question: “God, do You really want what is best for me? Cause right now it doesn’t feel like it…”
While God’s plan and purpose may not be what we would’ve chosen or envisioned for ourselves, we can be assured that He wants what is ETERNALLY BEST for us. I think that is the important distinction.
The phrase “God wants what’s best for me” can be misleading and also sound incredibly insensitive when walking through loss, grief, or anything that doesn’t fit into our idea of “good” or “best.”
So…what are examples of God’s best that we find in scripture???
One example that comes to mind is Joseph. Joseph was betrayed by his own brothers, sold into slavery, accused falsely, thrown into prison, left feeling abandoned and forgotten… and in Genesis 50:20 he says “as for you (his brothers), you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good…”
Think about that for a minute….
Joseph is able to confidently say: “what you meant for evil, God meant for good.” From the outside looking in we wouldn’t say that Joseph was living his “best life” and his desires and dreams were definitely not coming true…. and yet God was working thru the circumstances to bring about provision and restoration. God was bringing about HIS BEST in Joseph’s life.
The problem we run into is when we start to think that OUR best life is also God’s best for us. Ouch.
God has called us to lay down and lose our lives. As long as we hold onto our own life He will never be able to live HIS LIFE thru us.
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
– Matthew 16:25
It is hard to confess that what we thought we wanted and what we thought was best, good, and right is not the same as God’s will. I’ve cried tears over having to let go of my own desires and expectations. It takes humility to let go of what we had planned so we can grasp what God has for us.
But, like Joseph discovered, God’s plan was something greater than anything he could’ve ever planned or imagined on his own. Because Joseph’s plan became whatever God had for him. His hands were open.
If we don’t surrender our plans to God, then we are at risk of thinking that what we desire as “the BEST” is exactly what God wants for us too. God knew exactly what He was doing in and thru Joseph’s life — but I’m sure Joseph had to surrender his expectations of the way he had imagined his life to go.
Let’s look at the Apostle Paul as another example: by our standards his life (which was filled with suffering, beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, and ridicule) wouldn’t be our definition of “the best.” BUT in the middle of his suffering Paul RECOGNIZED that it was a part of God’s sovereign will and purpose for his life. Paul was called to the sufferings, and that’s why he was able to say, in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18:
“For our light affliction,
which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory.”
He calls the suffering MOMENTARY & LIGHT!! *woah* Read all the sufferings Paul listed in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 and tell me if you’d describe them in that way!? I wouldn’t.
Paul realized that what is temporarily painful may also be the same thing that will be eternally beneficial and best for us. We have a tendency to focus on the here & now, but God is outside of time and has a larger perspective than we ever will.
In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul says “…I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me...one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
When we realize that the GOAL and the PRIZE is the upward call of God we realize that anything this world has to offer us pales in comparison with what God has. Too often our GOAL is not Jesus: it’s something or someone else. Too often we hold tightly to other things and we don’t cherish Jesus as our greatest reward and prize. Are we willing to let go of what we are holding onto so tightly, so we can lay hold of what God has for us??
Paul realized what the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 2:17: “And the world is passing away, along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (ESV)
If all our dreams and desires came to pass exactly as we hoped, we wouldn’t walk thru the refining that only happens in times of testing and trial.
Many know the popular Bible verse: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” but, when you read the previous verses in Philippians 4:11-12, Paul says “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”
Many think that God’s hand is most evident in times of abundance, but God’s hand is just as present in times of suffering and lack. In Christ we can be content in BOTH seasons because HE is our living water and our daily bread (John 7:37-38, John 6:35) our satisfaction and fulfillment comes from HIM. This world and the things in this world will only ever leave us empty, hungry, thirsty, dry, and needy. When we allow God to grow and teach us thru every circumstance we will also be able to walk in contentment because we know He is working. When you’re pursuing Jesus as your GOAL and PRIZE, He will work thru every valley and every mountain to bring you closer to Him and nothing can separate you from Him! We will be able to say, like Joseph and Paul: “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” – Romans 8:28
One day, in eternity, we’ll be able to look back and see His hand in it all. ♡
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Yet in all these things
we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor principalities nor powers,
nor things present
nor things to come,
nor height nor depth,
nor any other created thing,
shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.“
– Romans 8:35-39
Are you willing to let go of your best in exchange for God’s best??