Ridiculous, right? No one would ever say that… at least not out loud.

But as is true with so many things in life, our true belief system is not measured with our words; it’s measured by our actions.

So how do you know if you think you’re smarter than God? You measure it by your reaction when things don’t go as you think they ought to.

You work on a project at work that fails despite your best efforts. No matter how hard you try your child can’t seem to read at the level she should. Stuff starts breaking in your home and there’s not enough in the budget to fix them. You are passed over for a promotion that you (and everyone else around you) know should have been yours.

What does your reaction to those moments say? What testimony does your anger and frustration give? What statement does your obsessing and lack of joy make?

That reaction screams out, “This is not how it’s supposed to be.” And it’s in those words, “supposed to”, that we find the truth.

At some level, we all think we’re smarter than God. That we know the way things are supposed to go.

Oh, to move toward a different reaction. One that is based not on my supposed knowledge and plans, but one that is rooted in the gospel-soaked love of God in Christ. One that recognizes the surprising and intimate work of God in life. One that trusts without seeing. One that is still disappointed, but one that fights disappointment not by comparing myself to others or by rationalizing why things went wrong.

One that recognizes that in Christ, God is not only with me. He’s FOR me.