This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. 1 CORINTHIANS 1:25 (NLT)

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God at his worst is always better than me at my best. 

When I find God’s way harder than I prefer for some reason, I tend to look for an easier path. It does not take long to relearn the lesson that taking the easy way is not the easy way. 

In the most comforting psalm in the Bible, King David plainly says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . . “ (23:4). It is the height of conventional wisdom to avoid dark valleys, dark alleys, and other dark places. Deep shadows hide all manner of danger. Yet our Father in heaven sometimes parades us right through deadly passages. 

It is wise to remember the rest of the verse: “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me,” (ESV). The NLT says, “I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”

Sometimes God leads into dark valleys because it is the shortest distance between where we are and where we are going. As Bob Roberts, NorthWood Church’s founding pastor, said last Sunday, “God does not answer our prayers according to what we see, but according to where he is leading us.” 

Sometimes God leads us into dark valleys because there are those who need rescue (Luke 10:30-37). 

Sometimes we see clearly where we should go and what we should do. Sometimes we see only a step at a time. Either way, we can trust God at his worst to be better than us at our best. Where God guides, God provides.

Our Father in heaven is more trustworthy in his silence than I am at the peak of my preacherly proclamation. 

Whenever we attempt to master a new subject, we go through a series of stages. First, there is Unconscious Incompetence. That means we do not know what we do not know. Remember the first time you swung a golf club? It’s like that. 

Then there is Conscious Incompetence. This means we know what we don’t know, and we are ready to learn. This is the person taking her first golf lesson. Next is Conscious Competence. Golf lessons pay off as you rehearse your posture, grip, and approach before every swing.

Finally, there is Unconscious Competence. This is what Arnold Palmer meant when he said, “Grip it and rip it.” 

When it comes to trusting God, what stage best describes you? Always remember that God at his worst is better than you at your best. He is unconsciously competent at everything. He can do anything but fail. The biggest challenges of life are never insurmountable when we allow him to lead the way.

Whatever stage of trusting God you find yourself in today, keep moving toward unconscious competence. When your default setting is trusting God no matter what, you will discover how trustworthy he is no matter what. 

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I will develop unconscious competence in trusting God.

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Our Father, as the old song says, “I did my best, but I guess my best wasn’t good enough.” You always do what is right, just, fair, and compassionate. When I am weak, you are strong. When I don’t know the way I should go, you lead me along the right paths because you will never lead me the wrong way. I trust you. I will trust you more and more. Show me the way I should go. Amen.