I was recently listening to a song (Good Good Father by Housefires), and although I’ve listened to it several times, this time around, a particular line struck me: “You are perfect in all of your ways”. Sometimes we may enjoy a song… its melody, catchy tune, rhyme etc and not necessarily reflect on what the lyrics mean. That’s probably why I was only just reflecting on this line, which is actually repeated several times in the song. It struck me at the time that if God’s ways are perfect, then they literally cannot be improved on. The message in the lyrics is echoed in a number of Bible verses. Matthew 5:48 states that our heavenly Father is perfect. Psalm 18:30 and 2 Samuel 22:31 note that “This God – His way is perfect”. Psalm 19:7 says “The law of the Lord is perfect”. Deuteronomy 32:4 declares “The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice.” Isn’t that amazing?

But what does it mean to be perfect? The dictionary defines perfect as “having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be; completely free from faults or defects.”

What does this imply? Well, if something is perfect, then there is nothing that can be added or included in it that will improve it. This means that the best thing we can do with a perfect thing is to not try to tweak it, but to enjoy it just as it is. If you literally had the perfect recipe for a cake for instance (if such a thing is possible), then it would be unwise to amend it, as any amendments will make it less than perfect. As such, if God’s ways are perfect, then they are already in their optimum state, they are the best, the ideal, they have all the desirable and required elements we would want in a plan, there can be nothing better, absolutely nothing. They are the ‘utopia’ of plans.

Doesn’t that just leave you in awe of God? Amazed, overwhelmed, bowled over? My mind is well and truly blown! This means He rightly deserves our praise, our worship, our adoration. He is worthy of it all. No one else comes close, nothing else deserves the devotion and worship that should be ascribed to Him. Just as we would be amazed at someone who creates a perfect masterpiece, and want to get to know them more, spend time with them, learn from them, honour them, we can approach our worship in a similar way.

Secondly, we can trust Him. We can completely, fully, totally, wholly, absolutely trust in God, and have complete and utter confidence in Him. I’m sounding like the Amplified Bible now, but you get the point. We can trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding, because our ways and understanding are sub-optimal when compared with His. They can’t even compare to be honest. Have you ever seen any of those “what I ordered vs what I got” memes? Like the one below?

The one at the bottom looks a bit like the lost sheep in the eponymous parable in Matthew 18, after it had darted through various hedges and ditches, and was a bit worse for wear. That sheep probably also thought it knew better when it left the safety of the shepherd’s presence and went a-wandering on its own path. The cake images are a small illustration of how our ways and plans are when compared to God’s. So why do we sometimes think or act like we know better, or that our plans are better? Why do we get so upset when God doesn’t answer our prayers in just the way we wanted, even though He definitely has a much better plan? It’s worth reflecting on, but when we think of it like this, can it help change our perspective?

It will also mean that we don’t have to worry, we can rest assured, comforted by the knowledge that a perfect God, with perfect ways, is in charge. Not only is He in charge, but He loves us so much. In effect, we know the ‘oga* at the top top top’. When people talk about having personal connections, He is the ultimate connection and He is for us! As such, we may not understand why things happen the way they do, but we can trust that God has a perfect plan. With time, we may eventually come to understand. Even if we never do on this side of eternity, maybe one day when we get to Heaven, we will finally realise why. He is not being stingy or unloving when He doesn’t give us exactly what we ask for …“Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” (Romans 8:32).

The adversary will try His best to convince us otherwise, just as he did in the Garden of Eden, persuading Adam and Eve that there was a better plan than God’s, and that if they ate the fruit, they would find out (Genesis 3). But as they found out, that was certainly not the case. We therefore need wisdom and discernment to know when the enemy is trying to ruin God’s plan in our lives, and not partner with him to do so, because he can’t do it without our consent and participation. He can try, but ultimately he will not succeed. If we make God’s word our guide and follow His law, which is perfect, then we can trust Him for the outcome.

I pray that this truth will resound in our hearts, that God’s ways are truly perfect and cannot be improved on. Even in the most challenging periods of our lives, may we hold on to this truth and draw comfort and confidence in it, standing firm in the faith as we trust God’s perfect ways.

*boss

Cover Image source here

Cake Image source here