it’s usually a phrase uttered in a heated argument by somebody balling up their fist and shaking it in the air. “if you know what’s good for you, you’ll turn around right now!”

“if you know what’s good for you” is usually a threat. but here’s the thing…

i really don’t know what’s good for me.

none of us do. not really.

scripture says that the heart is deceitful and vain above all things; we can’t trust it. it also says not to put our confidence in man, for pretty much the same reason.

so where do we turn? who does know what’s good for us?

well, God of course.

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8 NKJV

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

James 1:19 NKJV

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV

For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:11 NKJV

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Psalm 34:8 NKJV

God is sovereign. He know’s what’s best for us. He sees it all and knows it all. There is freedom in trusting him. Not relying on myself (or yourself) to figure out every detail. To chart a course. Rather, leaning on him — His Spirit, his wisdom — to show us the next step. One step at a time. One moment at a time. Sometimes even one breath at a time.

I don’t know what’s good for me and neither do you. But God does. And it’s in seeking him for his will and plan for our lives that we begin to taste the benefits of his goodness.

Trust is a difficult thing, no doubt; I mean, I’ve been running my life pretty much my way for how long? (Lol. and not well, I might add). And how has that worked out for me? (not very well, spoiler alert).

I think I will trust my well-being and direction, my future and my everything, to the one who thinks better and has better for me than I do for myself. His ways are higher than ours, and his thoughts higher than our thoughts.

Do you know what’s good for ya? Do ya?

Hint: it’s probably not what you think. I’m so glad he hasn’t put the stamp of approval on a lot of my misguided prayers. If he had, I’d probably be married and divorced, bankrupt and destitute multiple times over by now.

join me in asking our Creator, the one who intimately designed and knows us all, what’s good for us. he won’t give us junk, and all his plans for us are good.

Advertisement