God Is in Control Even When My Plans Stall

In review of Romans 4:17 it says, “Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.”

Bottom Line:

God can make the dead live again and can create new things out of nothing.

What this means to me:

With God anything is possible, as he can make the dead live again and he can create new things out of nothing.

Dead ends seem to appear when things are out of my control and I can’t do anything about it.

When I’m stuck in a dead end and I’m waiting for deliverance, I need to remember what God can do. The situation may be out of my control, but it’s not out of God’s control. When I face a dead-end, I shouldn’t focus merely on what I can’t do. I should shift my focus instead to what God can do.

Romans 4:17 says, “Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing” (NLT, second edition).

There are two things God does that I can never do: He can give life to the dead, and he can create something out of nothing. If God can give life to a dead man, he can certainly bring life to a dead or stalled dream.

It wasn’t just positive thinking that Abraham had, so what I’m learning is that positive thinking is not the same as faith. They are two very different things. Positive thinking works fine in situations I have control over. But in situations that are out of my control, positive thinking is worthless. It’s just wishful thinking. It doesn’t change the situation. So when I encounter things that are out of my control, I need something more than a positive mental attitude. I need faith in God, because he can control it when I can’t. As it turns out most of life will be beyond my control, so I need faith far more than I would ever need positive thinking.

The Bible says in Luke 18:27, “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (NIV). God specializes in the impossible. It’s called a miracle. He can turn any of my dead-ends into deliverance's.

So its good for me to remember that God Is in control even when my plans seem to stall. If God can give life to a dead man, he can certainly bring life to what seems to be a dead-end for me.