Maybe you failed significantly this year. Maybe you feel like you’re wandering in a purposeless wilderness. But don’t be “governed by present appearances”! The truth is far better: God “works all things after the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). You can’t mess up his plan. And there is a plan, even in the small things, even when you can’t see it, even in circumstances caused by your own sin.

If you’re not familiar with John Newton, the slave trader turned pastor, writer of the well-loved hymn “Amazing Grace,” I recommend you read the story of how God “saved a wretch like him” in his short spiritual autobiography, The Life & Spirituality of John Newton: An Authentic Narrative.

In my latest read of Newton’s book, I was struck by his reflection on the “seemingly fortuitous circumstances” in his early life that he assigned no great meaning to at the time, but that, looking back, he could clearly see had been intricately woven together in a pattern that would ultimately lead to his salvation and a fruitful life for God—including circumstances resulting from his own sin:

I was governed by present appearances and looked no further. But he, who is eyes to the blind, was leading me in a way that I knew not.

Now I am in some measure enlightened, I can easily perceive that it is in the adjustment and concurrence of these seemingly fortuitous circumstances, that the ruling power and wisdom of God is most evidently displayed in human affairs. How many such casual events may we remark in the history of Joseph, which had each a necessary influence in his ensuing promotion! If he had not dreamed, or if he had not told his dream; if the Midianites had passed by a day sooner or a day later; if they had sold him to any person but Potiphar; if his mistress had been a better woman; if Pharaoh’s officers had not displeased their lord; or if any, or all these things had fallen out in any other manner or time than they did, all that followed had been prevented: the promises and purposes of God concerning Israel, their bondage, deliverances, polity, and settlement, must have failed.

Read More