What If God Doesn’t Come Through?
Sometimes I find myself feeling discouraged if God doesn’t come through in the way I had hoped. Maybe it’s a health issue that I’ve struggled with. Maybe it’s financial difficulties. Or maybe it’s something in my ministry that I am passionate about, but it doesn’t seem like God cares about the things I want him to do. If you feel this way, I encourage you to open up your Bible and start reading! You will find that you are NOT the only one who ever felt this way. Even though God is with us, sometimes his plans do not line up with ours and this can lead us to feel as if he is distant or does not care.
The Story Of Abram
Abram was the patriarch of the Israelite people. The Lord chose him and promised to BLESS him and his descendants. His offspring were to be as numerous as the sands of the sea and God promised that Abram would inherit the land of Canaan as a possession. Eventually Abram noticed that the things The Lord had promised him were not happening. So he said, “Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless… Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir” (Genesis 15:2-3). The Lord responded by telling Abram that he would eventually have an heir from his own body. Abram BELIEVED God. Then the Lord showed Abram a dream and revealed to him that his offspring would be slaves in a foreign land for four hundred years before they would go out and receive the promised land.
I’m pretty sure that is not what Abram had in mind! First of all, instead of trusting The Lord to provide a son through his elderly wife, Abram sought to bear children through her slave Hagar. Abram and Hagar’s son Ishmael was not the heir God had meant, so later when Isaac was born there were serious family problems and consequences for not waiting for God’s plan. Then there was the simple fact that part of God’s promise would not be fulfilled for several hundred years! Can you imagine that? Imagine God coming to you and promising to do something awesome… then he tells you it won’t actually happen until long after you are dead! Probably not exactly what Abram had in mind…
God Is Not Your Servant
Unfortunately because of the false teachings of the prosperity movement and our entitled culture, we often fall into “name it and claim it” theology and treat God as if he is subservient to our wishes. This is a false theology. If your preacher treats God as if he is some sort of health giving, wealth giving, genie in the sky… RUN!!! God does give good gifts to his children, but sometimes his good gifts are not the same kind of gifts our sinful hearts desire. He does not have to submit to your wishes just because you pray enough or have enough faith. God does take those things into account, but ultimately he will do what he thinks is best for you, and we need to have the HUMILITY to submit to his will.
God will not be manipulated by you or anyone else. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray, because God can and does want to do good things for his children. When we pray, we demonstrate our faith. God can do anything! He is all powerful! Just because he doesn’t do something you want him to do, does not mean he cannot do it. God will answer your prayer in whatever way HE thinks is best, even if that is not the way YOU think is best.
God’s Plan Is Always Better
When things don’t go the way you plan, TRUST God. If you aren’t healed, TRUST him. If you don’t get that raise, TRUST him. When he does not show you the path to take, TRUST him. Even if it seems like God doesn’t care and is far far away, TRUST him. It can be so easy to complain both to God and to others about what God isn’t doing in our lives and forget to be thankful for the things he is doing. God’s timing is not our timing. His ways are not our ways. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Trust God through things even when you don’t know what he is doing. Ultimately his plan is better anyways.
To explore the topic of patience more generally, see my previous post “What Ever Happened To Patience?“
