Nothing takes God by surprise — Psalm 31
Early this year, I visited a school to speak at their chapel and visit their lunchtime CRU group. It’s been a little while since I gave a talk to a large group of primary children, so I made sure I was well prepared with my Bible in one hand and props in the other.
At the start, I brought out a large black box. Picking it up and shaking it, I asked, “Do you know what’s inside?”
The Kindy kids in the front row had wide eyes of anticipation; the older kids had big smiles and hands up. The teachers’ faces suggested some uncertainty as to what might come out!
A few students shouted guesses. Many were keen to volunteer to come up the front and reach inside. Were they courageous, or silly, or both? Time would tell.
They didn’t know what was coming. No matter what they discovered, there was still an element of surprise.
As the kids came up, curiosity turned to anticipation and then surprise.
A soft toy…
A plastic snake…
A water pistol… Then the crowd got soaked! And then, out came a very silly dancing robot that danced to its own music. When I couldn’t turn it off, the kids couldn’t turn off their laughter, and my talk was derailed for a little longer than I had hoped.
Like my black box, life is full of surprises. Kids don’t know what is coming next. They don’t know what’s coming in life. None of us do.
As adults, we might be better at hiding our shock and surprise, but we still feel it. We all get surprised in life because we don’t know everything and we aren’t in control of everything.
Except God. God is never surprised. Nothing takes God by surprise. Nothing… Not one thing!
We can know this as information, but do we trust it in our hearts? Do we trust God — trust that He knows, trust that He’s in control?
King David puts words to this trust:
“But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’
My times are in your hands.” (Psalm 31:14–15, NIV
David’s life is under threat. He speaks in the Psalm about traps being laid to catch him: a “net they hid for me” (31:4). He recounts his distress, pain and suffering (vv. 7–11). He feels rejected, forgotten and under direct attack (vv. 11–13).
Instead of reaching for answers from around him or demanding to know why, David speaks to God and simply says, “You are my God. My times are in your hands.” In other words: “I’m surprised and I don’t know what, how or why. But God isn’t.”
David asks to be rescued and delivered from his enemies, and he does so with trust: He knows God is not surprised and is still in control.
When we’re surprised or uncertain, coming to God and committing ourselves to Him is the greatest act of trust.
Many years after King David penned this Psalm, King Jesus was in a big storm. It was big enough to terrify experienced boaties but Jesus slept. Surprised, and with a little faith in what Jesus might do, they woke him. He asked them, “Why are you so afraid?” The answer seems obvious: “There is a great storm pummeling a small boat!” But Jesus isn’t afraid. He’s not surprised.
Sometime later, Jesus was led to a cross to be crucified. Those around him would have been shocked. Many interpreted the situation as an utter failure. Not Jesus. He knew it was coming; he felt the pain, but he wasn’t surprised.
Jesus knows and Jesus is in control. Which means it’s okay when we’re not.
During my chapel talk, I asked another group of volunteers to come up the front. This time, the box had items that represented events that might occur in a person’s life.
A medallion… maybe they’d won a sporting award.
A stethoscope… maybe a troubling health issue or they’d become a doctor.
A fancy vest… maybe they’d become famous or needed to dress up for a big life event. No dancing robots this time!
The reality is we just don’t know what will happen in life. We’re not in complete control. But God knows and He is.
And that is true for CRU’s ministry too: we don’t know what’s around the corner or what God will do next, but we can trust that our times, our work and the young people we serve are in His sure hands.
Nothing takes God by surprise and he invites us to say, with David:
“But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’
My times are in your hands.” (Psalm 31:14–15, NIV