Granted In What He Ordaineth

Today in church we sang the hymn “Praise to the Lord,” one of my all time faves.

I was struck all over again by the line: “Hast thou not seen, how all thy needest hath been, granted in what He ordaineth?”

I have always loved this line (and, in fact, any well-said thoughts about the planned-ness of our lives by God), but I think I was particularly receptive to this thought right now, because I am currently job hunting, in a very bad job market, within an especially difficult field. Job hunting is incredibly frustrating, but somehow it tends to be more demoralizing than other types of needs. Not having a job tends to grate at people’s spirits, self-confidence, and morale in a particularly acute way – more so than other seasons of want. Personally, I think this special difficulty comes from the sense of purpose and “mattering” that we get from our jobs – and that we then miss during joblessness.

What struck me about this line today was the choice of the word “ordain,” which is used rather than the word “sent.” I tend think that God sends me what I need, in response to needs that arise. That hard times come up, and that He assumes the same defensive posture that I do and responds to my needs with His resources. The choice of the word “ordain” in this line reminded me that this is a picture of my response to my problems, not His. He is not surprised by my new problem, and so He does not need to come up with a plan to respond to it. For Him, the timeline has already been laid out. In fact, the map of my life was drawn up during those first days of creation. The same time He was coming up with the long-term plans for our world, the plan of my life was part of that planning meeting, on the same table as the big sheets where He drew the maps of stars and oceans. So in fact, God is not walking my life step by step the way I am, reacting and readjusting to things as they come up. When he was drawing up the plans for the road my life would take, the problem I’m facing was chosen purposefully, specifically, and loving as something to include, and the corresponding answer to it was included at the proper time with equal purpose. I tend to live each day brand-new, autonomous, with each new problem a ground-breaking development that requires assimilation and readjusting. I defend against problems – I readjust as my life-plan shifts and quakes to accommodate new developments. God does not feel that way about my circumstances. All I need has been granted in what He ordained – meaning set up from the start. Which means my problems are also planned form the start. We are walking a set course, which I realize is paradoxically impacted and defined by our choices, but that does not diminish the reality that God not only knew about my problem (for me right now, joblessness), He picked it and planned it for right now. it is just as much for my good as the solution will be, which will also come in its own right, already-chosen time. For me right now, God chose joblessness and plugged it into my life timeline for right now, on purpose. God is not scrambling to readjust because I am.