WHAT IS BEST? by Tony Manley

As a teacher, a former mother (I am past the hands on stage!), and a current grandmother (I am in the hands on stage!), I hear and say, “I just want what is BEST for you!”  Seemingly, a harmless statement, a good desire and thought. Right?

Lately, the Holy Spirit has been teaching me about that very desire for my own heart – “I just want what is BEST for you!”  When I begin to really dwell on that thought, that the Holy Spirit just wants what is BEST for me, I realize there can be a discrepancy between when I say those words versus when He says them.  Let me explain.  When I speak those words, I really do want what I think, in my limited understanding, would be BEST for my loved ones and friends. But what if my idea of BEST is not the same as what God knows is BEST? For example: healing, removing the hard thing, or fixing the thing. This is usually my response, “Take it or them away!”  The word BEST is itself a happy and hopeful word…BEST movie, BEST food, BEST house, BEST route, BEST friend…the connotation that something is better than good!  So, if I believe that idea about the word, then shouldn’t I always pray for God’s BEST, trusting and believing God is giving the BEST? This is where my “gut” check comes in! Embracing the truth and having the faith that God’s BEST today may look very different (hard, scary, unexpected) from my box of BEST ideas and solutions. But because He has a plan for every day of my life, He knows why this answer is BEST because it will be BEST for the plans He has for me. 

I really desire to be in the place of relationship with Him that when He does His work in me, my circumstances, or relationships that I don’t just hope for the BEST. I believe and thank Him in this moment for the BEST He is giving me. BEST is His glory and my good.

            “All the days ordained for me were written in Your

book before one of them came to be.”  Ps. 139:16

            “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are

            your ways my ways.” Isa. 55:18

            “For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your

            right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help

            you.” Isa. 41:13

            “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,

            “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give

            You hope and a future.”  Jer. 29:11

How very personal God’s BEST is for me!