Today I had a need. It seemed as though my soul would die. But I knew the answer. I prayed to god.

I outlined my desires to him. I asked him to do this and then do that. That was just what I needed; no other happening would be right.

But god didn’t follow my plan! I could see no results. The situation worsened. Finally, in desperation, I cried out, “Oh god! Move before it is too late.”

Then god answered my prayer. His words echoed in my soul, “I am moving, you just don’t know my plan.” To this I had no answer, I could only say, “Amen.”

And so, I learned a lesson. God's word is true. He promised that all things would work together for my good if I loved him and would live for his purpose. I remembered my words and I saw that my anguished cry was not of faith.

“I am moving; you just don’t know my plan,” his words stayed with me. My god is active. How could I possibly imagine that he would be inactive in my behalf! How unthinkable that he should be silent toward me now!

He asked the father to give me the same glory that he had given him--how foolish for me to think he would idly stand by and see me overcome!

 

He told me that he has prepared a place for my abiding in the father so that we could always be together; and to think I said, “Oh god! Move before it is too late.”

I've learned a lesson. My god is not dead, he is not deaf, he is not inactive. His words are plain. They are not hard to understand, “I am moving, you just don’t know my plan.”

And so, I am quiet before my god and learn again that he loved me before I ever knew him. And he loves me now so I shall not be overwhelmed.   

-- R. L. Stahl