As a Christian, I believe that God is a constant in my life and the life of every Christian. (I also believe God is a constant in everyone’s life, whether known and acknowledged or not, but that’s a topic for another time.) There is no event, no person, no time, no place where God is not. Yet, there are events, persons, times, and places where things do not appear to be what God would have them be. And in these situations, I have learned several lessons that I would rather not have learned.Children don’t always continue in the ways a parent taught or lived. This can produce a lot of guilt. After all, doesn’t the Bible say, “Train up a child in the way he should go…”? Whatever that text means, it sheds little light on many situations. Godly parents often grieve over the wayward child, just as children who come to know the Lord later in life often grieve over parents who have never acknowledged God. Without citing numerous examples from Scripture about children who disappoint parents, let’s just acknowledge that history and the society around us abound in examples.

Other lessons I never wanted to learn include: Careful people can have serious health, or financial, or physical difficulties; Godly people often disagree; Disaster can strike both good and bad people. The list could go on. These are questions and issues that often disturb and trouble us, especially if we genuinely love God and want to know Him and His ways.

Perhaps the greatest lesson any of us must learn, and we would do well to learn it early and be reminded of it often, is that God is in control. God is too good to do wrong and too wise to make a mistake. Everything that He allows to touch my life is always and only for my good and His glory. God rules, even when I don’t understand.

The Apostle Paul said it this way: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)