Psalm 139:16 tells me that God has a great plan and it will come to pass. A book of what has been, what is, and what will be.
This verse brings hope and comfort to me for the days that are and will come. It also gives me hope for the day that would have been.
Because today would have been my uncle’s 60th birthday.
Today would have been my friend Rebekah’s 30th birthday.
Today would have been a day my friend could laugh with her dad instead of burying him.
Like many others, I have shed tears over my book of “days that would have been”. And I wonder how the hard and even devastating days could be written in God’s book, a book I cannot yet see and know.
It’s then that the Holy Spirit whispers heart reminders- words from the book God has given me to know.
Words…
- From Psalm 139 that say even the greatest distance and greatest darkness cannot diminish his hold or guidance.
- From Psalm 23 that even in the valley of the shadow of death he is present.
- From Isaiah 25 that promise one day that God will swallow up death forever and he will wipe away all tears.
- From John 11 that God wept with his friends over the death of their brother.
- From John 14 that promise his peace and love.
- From Revelation 22 that the Alpha and Omega is coming soon.
In the certainty of his unfailing love and promise, I can rest in the certainty of the days he has planned. In the power of the Holy Spirit, I can submit my “days that would have been” to his greater “days that are and will be”. I can even grieve, knowing that His heart toward me is tender and that one day he will wipe away my tears. That day is planned for me and it will come to pass. So I trust Him with the days He has written for me… and the days He has written for others.
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalms 23:6
thoughts and songs 