God of Order

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8 NIV

While reading through the creation process in chapter 1 of Genesis, I realized we truly serve a God (the only One) of order.
       Here’s the breakdown:
               On the first day, He created light.
               On the second day, He separated “water from water” (Genesis 1:6) by creating the sky.
               On the third day, He gathered the water in one place so that there would be land.
               On the fourth day (here’s where it got really interesting for me), He goes back around to refine the work He’s already done, starting with day one. He created the sun, moon, and stars to light the earth on this day.
               On the fifth day, He went back to day two’s work with the sky and sea by creating creatures for both.
               On the sixth day, God created creatures (including man and woman) to dwell on the land He created in day three.
       Knowing that God is so precise in His order of things gives me confidence in the order of things that take place in my life. Sometimes (well, maybe more like a lot of times) I feel under prepared for where He wants me. In these times I feel like He’s skipped steps in between to get me to the place He is calling me to. I would rather go back to those steps in order to prepare myself instead of trust that He knows what He is doing. When I move in obedience, though, I often come to realize that I was being prepared all along (through seemingly unrelated situations) without even knowing it.
       Other times I wonder why He has called me to move on to something new or to shift my focus. What He has planned and what He is doing doesn’t make sense to me in these times because I feel like I haven’t even taken care of or fulfilled my work in the area He placed me in before.
       I constantly have to remind myself that He is a God of order Who leaves nothing unfinished. He has a plan and methodology. He sees the grand scheme of things and knows the correct order of them. His thinking and way of doing things aren’t like ours. We live in a fractured and chaotic world, so how can we think we know order better than the very Author of it?
       He will finish what He has started, whether immediately or in time. Take confidence in that. If you feel like He has skipped something, know that He hasn’t forgotten it. He has simply planned to take care of it on another day.
       We have to keep moving in His will and leave behind what He has called us to. Even if it seems unfinished for us, remember that it is only for a season. God has plans and what we can sometimes see as unsatisfactory (because we see it as unfinished), He sees as good.