I closed my eyes in prayer as the pastor quoted this Scripture over my infant niece at her dedication to the Lord. I so anticipated God’s plan for her and how He would hold her hand and guide her through each day of her life.
When she was eight years old, I held her as we wept over her father’s untimely death. As I held her, I realized that God’s promise was just as real then as it had been at her birth. To this day God had been ahead of both of us, and He already knew our need, our hurt, our anger and our doubts. He was still there holding our hands.
What a comfort to know that while our future may sometimes look unclear at best, and futile at worst, God knows precisely what lies ahead. The disastrous things that come to us in life are the result of fallen humanity living on a broken planet, but through it all, God’s hand is still just as steady, and He will faithfully lead us.