New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional

by Paul David Tripp

Admit it: your life hasn’t worked out according to your plan. Last month didn’t work out according to your plan. Today won’t work out according to your plan. All of this is true because you aren’t the author of your story. You don’t need to read a mystery novel; your life is a mystery to you. You and I don’t have a clue what is around the next corner, let alone where we will be and what we will be doing a decade from now. But even though there is very little that we know for sure about our lives and we experience constant surprises along the way, we need not give way to panic. Yes, our lives are out of our control, but that doesn’t mean they are out of control. No, our lives are under the careful administration of the One who had the wisdom and power to be the great Author of it all. Since God is the Author of every detail of your story, since he writes into your story every situation, location, and relationship, then he knows exactly what you’re facing and precisely what grace you need to face it in the way he has planned. You could say it this way: his sovereign control is the guarantee that you will have everything that he has promised you. His sovereign control means he knows what you need because he has planned for you everything that you’re now facing. But more needs to be said. His sovereignty is your surety because he can guarantee the delivery of his promises only in the location where he rules. Because he rules over all things at all times (since he wrote the sto...