A sniper is on the loose in this one part of town. He or she hasn’t killed anyone yet, but has shot random cars and people have been injured because of it. My friend lives in that part of town, so when my friends and I were on the way to her house and got lost…well.
But my friend who was driving brought up something she thinks about whenever her driving plans get rearranged because of getting lost, because of a wayward GPS, or because of circumstances that just pop up.
There’s something happening on the road somewhere and God’s protecting her from it.
I love that perspective. It’s divine intervention that looks like a wrench in our plans.
I don’t handle wrenches well.
That’s me when wrenches are thrown my way. I collapse. I get mad. I wallow in pain and frustration. I’m kind of a wimp. I crumble easily with the tiniest interruption. My whole day gets ruined when one little thing doesn’t go according to plan. But I’m working on this because I don’t like being around myself when I get like that, which is why I like my friend’s perspective a lot.
What if some wrenches really are divine intervention? Like Balaam’s donkey. Like the blinding of Saul. Like Mary’s pregnancy.
God doesn’t play with our lives, throwing good and bad things at us like a Sims gamer, but He does help and protect us (Psalm 121). God is always with us, watching over us wherever we go (Genesis 28:15). God even fights for us (Exodus 14:14).
Wrenches will always get thrown at us. It won’t always be divine intervention. Sometimes, wrenches are wrenches. But, “we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, NIV).
No matter what happens, even when bad things happen, we are in the hands of God. We’ll be okay. More than okay (Romans 5:3-5).
On the way home from my friend’s house, the GPS sent us up and down through neighborhoods. There was a faster and easier way to reach the freeway, but Google sent us the long way ’round. It was dark. The way was fraught with doubts. We ended up taking the wrong freeway entrance. But we avoided the sniper’s hunting ground.
So maybe he was out there that night. Maybe there was construction we didn’t know about. Maybe an accident. Something somewhere that God protected us from.
Or maybe the GPS was just wonky.
Whatever it was, we got home okay. That’s a blessing to count. The next time a wrench gets thrown at me, I’ll just think that there’s a something somewhere that God’s protecting me from.
