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There is a line in a Casting Crowns song that I have always liked: “Your world’s not falling apart, it’s falling into place.”

That's easy to sing. It's a little harder to believe when you're the one whose world seems to be falling apart. When the plan doesn't work. When someone hurts you. When the answer to prayer doesn't come. When the door closes. When life takes a turn you didn't expect and certainly wouldn't have chosen.

In those moments, it sure doesn't feel like anything is falling into place. It just feels like it's falling apart.

Legendary PLU football coach Frosty Westering had an interesting way of looking at success.

We often think about the journey to success. We picture success somewhere out in front of us. If we work hard enough, overcome enough obstacles, make enough good decisions, and keep moving forward, eventually we'll arrive. Then we'll be successful.

Frosty challenged people to think differently. Instead of the journey to success, think about the success journey. The journey itself matters. For those of us who follow Christ, I think there is an important truth there.

Our success isn't reaching a point where everything finally works out exactly the way we wanted. Our success is walking faithfully with God wherever the journey takes us. Sometimes, that journey goes through places we would never choose.

Joseph probably understood that better than most. God gave Joseph dreams about his future. Then his brothers threw him into a pit. That doesn't exactly look like the dream coming together.

Then they sold him into slavery. That doesn't exactly look like the dream coming together.

He eventually found himself serving in Potiphar's house, where he was falsely accused by Potiphar's wife. Then came prison. Then came being forgotten. That doesn't exactly look like the dream coming together.

If we stopped Joseph's story at almost any of those moments, we could reasonably ask: "God, what are You doing?"

Years later, Joseph could finally see something he couldn't possibly have seen from the bottom of the pit. He told his brothers:

“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good…” — Genesis 50:20

Notice Joseph didn't pretend the evil was good:  “You meant evil.”

What his brothers did was wrong, but their evil wasn't powerful enough to stop God's plan.

What looked like Joseph's life falling apart was somehow being woven into something Joseph couldn't yet see.

Then there is Hosea. God called the prophet Hosea to marry Gomer, a woman Scripture describes as a wife of harlotry. I can't imagine Hosea growing up thinking, "That's exactly how I hope my life turns out."

Yet God used Hosea's painful marriage as a living picture of something much bigger. Israel had been unfaithful to God. Hosea's life became part of God's message about sin, faithfulness, judgment, mercy, and God's persistent love for His people.

Hosea couldn't separate his ministry from his circumstances. His circumstances became part of his ministry.

That's worth thinking about: "What if something I keep asking God to remove is something He is using?"

There is an even greater example. Think about the final days before Jesus went to the Cross from the perspective of His followers.

  • Their Messiah is betrayed.
  • Arrested.
  • His disciples scatter.
  • Peter denies Him.
  • Jesus is falsely accused.
  • Beaten.
  • Mocked.
  • Nailed to a cross.
  • And then He dies.

If there were ever a moment when it appeared God's plan was falling apart, surely that was it.

Imagine being one of His followers on Saturday. They didn't yet have Sunday's perspective. They just knew Jesus was dead. But the Cross wasn't God's plan falling apart. The Cross was God's plan being fulfilled.

Jesus had told them what was coming, but they didn't yet understand.

On the road to Emmaus after the Resurrection, Jesus explained how the Scriptures pointed toward what had happened. What looked like defeat was victory. What looked like the end was the beginning. What looked like everything falling apart was falling exactly into place.

Now, I need to be careful here. I don't believe Scripture teaches that everything that happens to us is good. Some things hurt. Some things are unfair. People sin against us. We make bad decisions. Other people make bad decisions that affect us. We experience sickness, disappointment, loss, betrayal, and failure.

Following Jesus doesn't require us to pretend those things don't hurt, but scripture does give us this promise:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” — Romans 8:28

Sometimes we stop there. But keep reading. The next verse speaks about being “conformed to the image of His Son.”

Maybe the good I am looking for and the good God is accomplishing aren't always exactly the same thing. I may be asking God to change my circumstances. God may be using my circumstances to change me.

That's sanctification. That's becoming more like Jesus. That's One Step Closer.

Here's where this gets difficult for me. When circumstances aren't what I want, my soul has plenty of places it can go.

  • Self-pity.
  • Anger.
  • Fear.
  • Frustration.
  • Complaining.
  • Blaming.
  • Worry.
  • "Why me?"
  • "Why this?"
  • "Why now?"

Those feelings can become places where we live. The psalmist understood that struggle:

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God…” — Psalm 42:5

I love that. The psalmist talks to his own soul. He doesn't deny the struggle. He redirects it: Hope in God. Maybe sometimes we need to do the same thing.

The English word worship has an interesting history. It comes from an Old English word connected to worth or worthiness. That gets right to the heart of worship: God is worthy.

He is worthy of our praise. Worthy of our love. Worthy of our obedience. Worthy of our trust. Worthy of our lives. And here's the question I've been thinking about: "Is God only worthy when I understand what He is doing?"

Of course not. God was worthy while Joseph sat in prison. God was worthy while Hosea walked through a life he wouldn't have chosen. God was worthy on that Saturday when Jesus' followers couldn't understand what had happened. And God is worthy in whatever circumstance you and I are facing today.

Worship doesn't require me to understand God's plan. Worship requires me to remember God's worth.

Paul and Silas give us an incredible picture of this in Acts 16. They had been attacked. Beaten with rods. Thrown into prison. Their feet were placed in stocks. And then Scripture tells us:

“But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” — Acts 16:25

Then God sent an earthquake and the prison doors opened. But don't miss the order. They worshiped while the doors were still closed. They didn't know an earthquake was coming. They didn't know their circumstances were about to change.

They worshiped God because God was worthy. They understood God was worthy before the earthquake. Before the doors opened. Before they knew how the story ended. That's faith.

Joseph didn't know how the story would end while he was sitting in the pit.

Hosea couldn't see everything God would accomplish through his painful circumstances.

Paul and Silas didn't know the prison doors were about to open.

And Jesus' followers experienced a Saturday when everything they believed seemed to have fallen apart. But Sunday was coming.

Sometimes we are living on Saturday. We don't understand. We don't know what's next. We can't see how God could possibly use what is happening. And maybe we won't understand this side of eternity.

Faith doesn't mean we have to explain everything God is doing. It means we trust who He is when we can't understand what He is doing.

So here's my challenge for us this week. When something doesn't go the way you hoped, don't let your soul immediately take up residence in self-pity, anger, fear, frustration, or worry. Before trying to figure everything out: Worship.

Put on a worship song. Open a Psalm. Pray. Praise Him.

Tell God exactly what you're feeling. He already knows anyway. Tell Him:

“Father, I don't understand why this is happening. Maybe someday I will. Maybe I won't. But I know who You are. You are still God. You are still good. You are still faithful. You saved me through Your Son. You gave me Your Spirit. And whatever happens with this circumstance, You are worthy of my worship.”

Then deal with the problem. Make the phone call. Have the conversation. Fix what you can fix. Apologize if you were wrong. Ask for help. Take the next step.

But first, remind your soul who God is.

Maybe Frosty was onto something and was just stating it in his own way.  Perhaps success isn't waiting for us at the end of some perfect journey where everything finally works out. Maybe success is found in faithfully walking the journey God has placed before us.

The next time it looks like everything is falling apart, instead of immediately asking: “God, why is this happening to me?”

We can worship Him and ask: “God, how will You use this to make me more like Jesus?”

We may not know yet, or ever on this side of eternity. That's okay. He is still worthy.

One Step Closer: When life feels like it is falling apart, don't wait for the doors to open before you worship. Turn your soul toward God while they are still closed. You may not understand the journey, but you know the One walking it with you. Worship Him there.