Can’t See Behind the Scenes
What SHe SAid - Part 12
Marlys Roos, Guest Writer
Today’s Treasure
The secret things belong to the LORD our God. But the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of His law.
Deuteronomy 29:29
Movies are a part of life in our culture. We look forward to them. We criticize them. We watch some over and over again. We even pretend we are a part of them, putting ourselves in the roles, changing the parts we didn’t like, and thinking about what should happen in the sequel. But from what we see on the screen, so much more has occurred “behind the scenes.”
Although life is not a movie, we sometimes act like it is. We write out in our minds what we want to happen, practice what and how we will speak and act, and try to direct how others should respond. We’d like to edit out all the pain and ugliness and even waiting. We want to be the screenwriter, director, producer, and star of our lives. We think we could do better than God if we were in control. We can’t see how He’s working things together for good (Rom. 8:28), and we certainly don’t want Him keeping secrets from us (Deut. 29:29a).
Like many people, I would like to have rewritten, edited, and directed parts of 2020 so that things would have worked out the way I thought they should. While the pandemic began to shut down life as we knew it, I was given a role that I rather not have had, but God knew better than I, and He graciously has revealed a few of the things He was doing (Deut. 29:29b).
In late March 2020, my brother-in-law died from Alzheimer’s. In spite of Covid, we began to make plans to move my sister from their house in the country ninety minutes away to an apartment fifteen minutes from me. But God had another plan. Four weeks later, while staying alone in her house, my sister had a stroke. Because of Covid, I could not be in the ER with her. During those hours, I cried out to the Lord, and—though not in the way I would have written the script—He answered me (Ps. 3:4). I told Him I didn’t know what to do and I couldn’t do what was needed. I couldn’t do it myself. It was a prayer I had prayed regretfully few times in the previous months as I drove to the country weekly to help my sister, but in His sovereignty, the Lord began to answer it almost immediately. Though our prayers for healing were not answered in the way we wanted, we did get to have a few visits during the three weeks before my sister’s passing. And that was not the end of the story God was writing.
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
As my husband and I began the process of cleaning out the house, God immediately provided helpers, some from a daughter church of our church, some from our friends, and some from places we would never have expected. It would take pages to write all the ways God provided and proved He knew best during those days (Isa. 55:8). It would also take pages to list all the questions I still have for God and to list all the praises we have for what He did. What was clear throughout the time was His presence and provision and our need of Him and His people.
PRAYER
Lord, like our first parents, we want to be in control and direct our lives our way, but only You are sovereign. Help us, Lord, in the tension between control and complacency to seek You first, to be still, and to know You are God. Amen.
Sharon W. Betters is a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, pastor’s wife, and cofounder of MARKINC Ministries, where she is the Director of Resource Development. Sharon is the author of several books, including Treasures of Encouragement, Treasures in Darkness, and co-author with Susan Hunt of Aging with Grace. She is the co-host of the Help & Hope podcast and writes Daily Treasure, an online devotional.
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Contact Sharon with comments or questions at dailytreasure@markinc.org.