I am glad that God is in control of things—aren’t you? The psalmist said: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way” (Psalms 37:23). We make our plans as best we know how, and yet God ultimately superintends our lives. “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

Without realizing it, I scheduled myself to be at two churches the same week. I know what your are thinking, and you’re right—I am getting old! Four days before the meetings, I realized my mistake. As we scrambled to try to figure out what to do, I sensed that God was working everything out according to His perfect plan. Within a few hours, four different pastors agreed to move their dates around so as to accommodate my blunder. I went ahead and preached the one revival that was scheduled and God blessed with over ninety first-time visitors in the service on Sunday morning. Many were saved that day, and I sensed that God had been in control. When I finally was able to preach the “other” week of meetings, I was concerned that people might be disappointed that the revival had been postponed for over a month. As we started the week, however, just the opposite was true.

The people were eagerly anticipating what God was going to do and the building was packed each service. The pastor had graciously led the people to use the extra month to prepare more diligently, and it was obvious that God was again in control. Halfway through the meeting I stopped counting the number of people who came up to me and said: “You were delayed because of me. Had you come during the original week, I would have been out of town on business. Tonight, God spoke to my heart and changed my life.” One adult Sunday school teacher told me that he had planned to use the week before the meetings to teach on revival, but because the meetings were delayed, he ended up teaching for four Sundays on the subject! As a result, he said: “God has done a great work in our class before you even arrived!” Read more »