It Just Happened

 

“Happen” is an interesting word with too many meanings. The dictionary gives meanings of “to take place; occur,” and “find or come across by chance.” Because we understand the word so well, we don’t think very deeply about it. We use it in many questions as a catch-all. “What happened?” “How did that happen?” “Why did it happen?” Or even, “What’s happenin’?” If we put the word “just” in front of it, we mean either that it occurred very recently or that it occurred by accident, without cause or plan. “I don’t know why; it just happened.”

 If we look around us, we see that many unhappy things have occurred in the past few months. Nobody accidentally or deliberately caused the Easter tornado to happen. It just happened. Someone may or may not have caused the COVID-19 virus to blow across the entire globe. Or maybe it just happened. Some of us have gotten sick with other things, for reasons we don’t understand. Some have lost work, possessions, even people for reasons we can’t understand.

 If, as believers, we look at our lives in light of God’s word, we should probably not use the phrase, “It just happened,” unless we mean the occurrence was recent. Our lives are not a series of accidental occurrences. Psalm 139 details the knowledge the Creator of the universe has of our entire lives – our beginnings, our actions before they “happen,” even our thoughts before we think them. (Considering the natural bent of our thoughts, that’s quite frightening.)  Read the whole Psalm. Verse 13 starts at our beginning; “for You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” And for the present time, v. 16 says, “all the days chosen for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

 You did not just happen. Your life to this point is not just a series of accidental happenings. You may have been formed in an unusual fashion or had your physical form changed by something that happened. You may have had disasters in your life that shaped your attitudes, hopes or fears. You may have had wonderful influences in your life that shaped your attitudes, hopes or courage. But wherever you are and however you are, you did not “just happen.”

 Sometimes we may understand why things happened in our lives; sometimes we may guess wrong. Sometimes we never know. It is faith in God’s goodness that assures us there are reasons for odd occurrences.

In an incident related in the Bible (John 9), Jesus’s disciples made two wrong guesses about why a man was born blind and had suffered for an entire lifetime. Jesus said there was a real reason – that the works of God might be displayed in him. From that point, the man’s life played out quickly and well -- until the religious leaders got involved with their unbelief.

 When we struggle with unbelief, or maybe just confusion, pain and longing, God’s Word tells us of His goodness, purpose and plan. And our sisters have helped us with recent posts. Joyce reminded us God has placed authorities in our lives, deliberately and for our good. Faith mentioned that we do, indeed, have many unhappy “happenings,” but our “strong tower” is not a wobbly Jenga game. Amy encouraged us to “complain” to God in a Scriptural way and seek His comfort.  Maylou pointed out the repetition of “the gracious hand of my God” as the rock sustaining Ezra and Nehemiah in a time of desperate “happenings.” And Sherry gave us an awesome daily checklist that can help us prevent disasters from happening to our spiritual health.

 It did not just happen. You did not just happen. Let us trust the “gracious hand of our God” for the real reason – that the works of God might be displayed in us.

 

--Lynda Shenefield