For far too long I have over-analyzed all the negative circumstances in my life, meaning I’ve tried to categorize them and make them fit into neat little boxes. 

For example, if the car breaks down, I might dwell on where this mishap originated from. 

Was it my fault, because I hadn’t kept up with the maintenance on the car? It’s just common sense that a neglected car will eventually give out, right?

Or was the breakdown the work of Satan, our adversary? Did he cause the mechanical failure out of spite, because he hates Christians and will do anything he can to cause them problems and try to get them to doubt God.

Or did God himself create the malfunction as a means of testing me, trying to stretch and grow my patience during times of trial?

Trying to figure out such things can be quite frustrating and even maddening.

Back and forth my mind will go, first blaming God and His way of sending trials into our lives to help us grow. Then I’ll shift the blame to myself because I wasn’t proactive enough in taking care of the car. Next, my frustration will gravitate toward our enemy, because surely everything bad in life comes from him, right?

Then, one day a novel thought popped into my mind when I was in  the middle of one of “analysis sessions.”

IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER.

The source of the trial doesn’t matter because God is in control over everything. No matter where this situation came from, it is only in my life because God has allowed it to be there. 

He has some divine purpose that will ultimately work out for my good, as Romans 8:28 tells us.

It’s simply a matter of trusting Him and His will for my life.

Besides, the universe is complex and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa. 55:8). Most likely, it’s not as simple as categorizing any particular event as “from God” or “from Satan.” 

Everything that happens in our lives has a purpose, and we can never begin to understand God’s ways.

So there…When something unexpected, or negative, or just plain undesirable happens in life, don’t try to figure it out. Just trust that God is at the helm and has everything under control.